Catalogo Sin Heroismos Final - Baja

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Sin herosmos, por favor
SIN HEROSMOS, POR FAVOR
Zivago con fino bigote, esposa e hijo. Sus ojos de poeta presencian toda clase de sufrimiento. Se mantienen ocupadas sus manos de mdico. Las paredes de su corazn eran papel de fumar, le dice el camarada y hermanastro General Alec Guinness a Sara, de quien Zivago se enamor y dej embaraza. Pero en ese momento, la banda del topless que est al lado del cine empieza a tocar. El saxofn se eleva cada vez ms, reclama nuestra atencin. La batera y el bajo tambin se hacen presentes, pero son las subidas y bajadas del saxo las que drenan la capacidad de resistir.
In the last years, the Regional Government of Madrid has reaffirmed itself as a first order cultural reference and a focus for the diffusion of the best contemporary artistic creation from Spain and abroad. Through its temporary exhibitions, the CA2M - Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo one of the main cultural projects of the Regional Government, advocate to show the most contemporary creations and to provide an international projection to young artists. This show cured by Tania Pardo from Madrid, is featured as the addition of three solo exhibitions of the following artists: Ivn Argote (Bogot, 1983), Sara Ramo (Madrid, 1975) and Teresa Solar Abboud (Madrid 1985). Three independent proposals united by the same title: No Heroics, please. The exhibition, entitled like the novel of the USA writer Raymond Carver, highlights the importance of the ordinary acts and offers us the possibility to contemplate the peculiar and private as a creative action. The three artists link themselves through their identities and personal references to this three-solo exhibition. The three of them have developed their career in a place while they belong to another. A Colombian that works in Paris, a Madrid native woman who has develop most of her works in Brazil and a woman born in Madrid who refers to her Egyptian origins. All of this intertwined by a particular sense of humor and a firm commitment. The Regional Government of Madrid, faithful to its commitment with arts, produces this exhibition at the same time that it strives to support young talents and to bring culture to a wide public. Once again, I want to express my gratitude to all those who have participated wholeheartedly in this project. Im sure that the people from Madrid as well as all the visitors will enjoy this exhibition.
Ignacio Gonzlez Gonzlez Vice-president and Counselor for Culture and Sport
La Comunidad de Madrid se ha consolidado en los ltimos tiempos como un referente cultural de primer orden y un foco de difusin de la mejor creacin artstica contempornea, tanto espaola como extranjera. El Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, uno de los proyectos culturales fundamentales del Gobierno Regional, a travs de sus exposiciones temporales, apuesta por mostrar lo ms actual del arte contemporneo y proyectar internacionalmente a jvenes artistas. Esta muestra, comisariada por la madrilea Tania Pardo, se ha planteado como la suma de tres exposiciones individuales de los artistas Ivn Argote (Bogot, 1983), Sara Ramo (Madrid, 1975) y Teresa Solar Abboud (Madrid, 1985). Tres propuestas independientes pero unidas bajo un mismo ttulo; Sin herosmos, por favor. La exposicin, titulada como el libro del escritor norteamericano Raymond Carver, enfatiza la importancia de los actos cotidianos y nos ofrece la posibilidad de contemplar lo particular e ntimo como accin creativa. Los tres artistas, mediante sus identidades y referentes personales, se vinculan en esta exhibicin tri-individual. Todos ellos han desarrollado su trayectoria en un lugar aun cuando pertenecen a otro. Un colombiano que trabaja en Pars, una madrilea que ha realizado casi toda su obra en Brasil y una nacida en Madrid, que alude a sus races egipcias. Todo ello unido por un peculiar sentido del humor y un gran compromiso. La Comunidad de Madrid, en su compromiso con el arte, produce esta exposicin, al tiempo que trabaja para apoyar a jvenes talentos y poner la cultura al alcance de todos los ciudadanos. Una vez ms, quiero expresar mi agradecimiento a todos quienes se han involucrado con entusiasmo en este proyecto. Estoy seguro de que los madrileos y quienes nos visitan disfrutarn con esta exposicin.
Ignacio Gonzlez Gonzlez Vicepresidente y Consejero de Cultura y Deporte
Esta es la primera ocasin en la an corta andadura del CA2M en la que se ensaya el formato de exposicin triindividual. El neologismo se lo escuch por primera vez hace un tiempo a Gerardo Mosquera y describe a la perfeccin una propuesta como Sin herosmos, por favor. Un lugar guiado por las conexiones tenues entre los trabajos de los artistas, que se van haciendo ms visibles y evidentes conforme se avanza en cada uno de los trabajos. Posiblemente ese caminar juntos a tientas, inicialmente, y a plena luz, al final, sea uno de los mayores aciertos de la exposicin. Un proyecto que cruza el trabajo de los tres artistas con el de la propia comisaria y los colaboradores de los textos del catlogo, poniendo en marcha una serie de relaciones y tensiones que se explican, como aclara Tania Pardo, por el comn denominador de la desmitificacin del acto creativo y de la reclamacin de lo cotidiano como territorio artstico. Sin herosmos, por favor enlaza con muchos de los temas que se plantean en el CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo a lo largo de su programacin de exposiciones y actividades. Plantea el espacio del museo como un lugar donde se tejen y se hacen visibles aproximaciones a la realidad que la magnifican, la distorsionan a voluntad y, por encima de todo, posibilitan que se gire sobre s misma para cuestionarse. Lleva lo poltico a las actitudes personales y colectivas muchas veces invisibles, mostrando como el arte puede ser su amplificador. Insina tambin como el arte puede generar cambios inesperados al funcionar como el efecto mariposa. Ese efecto dice que el aleteo de una mariposa en un extremo del mundo puede generar un huracn en el hemisferio opuesto. De igual manera, sera posible que el trabajo de un artista genere un cambio significativo en un terreno ajeno al arte? Aunque jams podamos comprobarlo, todos los que trabajamos en arte desearamos que as fuera.
La exposicin propone una plataforma donde el visitante el usuario del arte- sea protagonista de esta trama, al luchar contra cualquier nocin de pasividad. El compromiso y la actitud activa son imprescindibles, e intenta no dejar indiferente a nadie. Valindose de una esttica low cost, huye de la sofisticacin para concentrarse en las propuestas efectivas, muchas veces jugando con la irona y el exceso. Los trabajos de los tres artistas muestran la premisa de que el arte tiene que creerse mucho a s mismo para ser efectivo. Por supuesto, cada uno de los trabajos de Ivn Argote, Sara Ramo y Teresa Solar Abboud operan en sus propios espacios. Las lecturas y los niveles de comprensin, aunque complementarios, son diferentes. Ah es donde esta exposicin se convierte en una suma de tres muestras individuales. Ah es tambin donde aparecen otros temas, otras aproximaciones relacionadas con las estrategias y el posicionamiento de cada uno de los artistas. De all su disposicin en el espacio, en espacios separados que permiten un cambio de registro y sentido en cada uno de ellos. Es terreno tambin para las emociones. Cada uno de ellos nos adentra en universos particulares, en los que hay algo de sus propias biografas y experiencias. Sin herosmos, por favor propone un juego de complicidades. Complicidades entre sus actores, los artistas, la comisaria y la institucin. Complicidades que son imprescindibles para poner en marcha cualquier trabajo comprometido con el arte. Sobre todo, complicidades con los visitantes, algunos de los cuales se convertirn en protagonistas por un da no slo de una de las piezas o de una exposicin, sino de todo el museo.
Ferran Barenblit Director CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo
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This is the first occasion in its still short journey that CA2M proposes a three-solo exhibition format. I heard this neologism for the first time in Gerardo Mosqueras words long time ago and this term describes perfectly a proposal such as No heroics, please. A place guided by the faint connections of the artists works which become more visible and obvious as one progress in each of the pieces. It is perhaps this walking together, groping initially and in broad light at the end, one of main achievements of this show. A project that intertwines the work of the three artists, the curator and the collaborators in the catalogue texts creating a series of relationships and tensions which are explained, as Tania Pardo elucidates, by the common denominator of the demythologisation of the creative act and the allegation of the ordinary as an artistic territory. No heroics, please connects with many of the issues proposed in CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo throughout its exhibition and educational programme. It presents the museum venue as a place to weave and make visible the approaches that magnify reality, deliberately distorting it and, above all, allowing it to revolve around itself in order to be questioned. It brings the political to personal and collective attitudes, so often invisible, proving how arts can be the amplifier of the political. It also suggests how arts can generate unexpected changes, acting as the butterfly effect. This phenomenon states that the flattering of a butterfly wings at one end of the world can cause a hurricane at the opposite end. Likewise, may one artists work cause a significant change in a territory foreign to arts? Although we may never be able to prove it, all the people engaged with arts would love that effect to be true.
The exhibition provides a platform where visitors- arts users are the protagonist of this plot, fighting against any attempt to remain passive. Commitment and an active attitude are imperative in this exhibition that strives to leave no one indifferent. Using a low cost aesthetics, it flies from sophistication in order to focus on efficient proposals, playing at times with irony and excess. The works of the three artists show the premise that arts must believe very strongly in itself in order to be effective. Of course, each one of the pieces of Ivn Argote, Sara Ramo and Teresa Solar Abboud operates in its own spaces. The readings and levels of understanding, although complementary, are different. It is at this point where the exhibition becomes the sum of three solo exhibitions. It is also at this point where other themes, other approaches related to the strategies and positioning of each of the artists, become visible. Hence, their display on the space, in separated galleries, allowing to change the register and meaning in each of them. It is also a territory for emotions. Each one of them brings us deep into singular universes where there is something from their biographies and experiences. No heroics, please, proposes a game of complicities. Complicities between its actors: the artists, the curator and the institution. Complicities which are essential to get off the ground any arts committed work. Above all, complicities with the visitors, some of whom will become one day protagonist not only of one of the pieces or of the exhibition, but of the whole museum.
Ferran Barenblit Director CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo
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Una trIloGa y tres hIstorIas one trIloGy, three tales Tania Pardo
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el Pelo the haIr Raymond Carver
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Breve GlosarIo del arGote* a short Glossary oF arGote* Manuel Segade
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Una hIstorIa a hIstory los trechos de Una conversacIn FraGments oF a conversatIon Jlia Rebouas
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GeoGraFa de la lenGUa GeoGraPhy oF lanGUaGe Sergio Rubira
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BIoGraFas BIoGraPhIes
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crdItos credIts
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aGradecImIentos aknowledGements
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FERRAN ING
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UNA tRIlOgA y tRES HIStORIAS

lo que realmente ocurre, lo que vivimos, lo dems, todo lo dems, dnde est? lo que ocurre cada da y vuelve cada da, lo trivial, lo cotidiano, lo evidente, lo comn, lo ordinario, lo infra-ordinario, el ruido de fondo, lo habitual, cmo dar cuenta de ello, cmo interrogarlo, cmo describirlo? Interrogar a lo habitual () cmo hablar de esas cosas comunes, ms bien cmo acorralarlas, cmo hacerlas salir, arrancarlas del caparazn al que permanecen pegadas, cmo darles un sentido, un idioma: que hablen por fin de lo que existe, de lo que somos. Quizs se trate finalmente de fundar nuestra propia antropologa: la que hablar de nosotros, la que buscar en nosotros lo que durante tanto tiempo hemos copiado de los dems. ya no lo extico sino lo endtico.
Georges Perec, LInfra-ordinaire
Hace aos le una carta de Chjov que me impresion. Era una especie de consejo que daba a una de las muchas personas que le escriban. Algo parecido a esto: Amigo, no tienes por qu escribir sobre hroes que llevan a cabo actos memorables y extraordinarios. () Al leer aquella carta de Chjov y otras parecidas, y al leer tambin sus relatos, empec a ver las cosas de otra manera. Estas palabras del escritor noteamericano Raymond Carver resumen parte de lo que esta exposicin plantea: ya no hace falta hablar de grandes hroes, no es tiempo de grandes narraciones, pero s es momento para detenerse en las realidades de cada uno de nosotros. Y es que esta muestra, titulada, Sin herosmos, por favor, en alusin a la recopilacin pstuma de relatos cortos escritos en su juventud por este novelista y poeta, gira en torno a la idea de la desmitificacin del acto de crear, ya que la propia creacin es, en s misma, un gesto heroico y de reivindicacin, en este caso, de la importancia del hecho cotidiano como militancia diaria. Este libro recoge una compilacin de textos que su viuda, Tess Gallagher, en un ltimo homenaje a su marido, se encarg de recopilar, escritos donde un joven escritor narraba, de la misma manera que estos tres artistas , Ivn Argote, Teresa Solar Abboud y Sara Ramo, emprenden una investigacin de la vida cotidiana y las realidades de nuestra existencia comn, sin miedo a equivocarse en su forma de concebirlas, o quiz s, pero siempre barajando la existencia de esta posibilidad e incidiendo en que buena parte del valor de la creacin reside en esa nfima y borrosa lnea que separa el ensayo del error.
Sin herosmos, por favor se concibe como tres exposiciones individuales, tres narraciones gestadas como historias independientes pero unidas bajo un mismo ttulo. Tres relatos donde la potica narrativa ha dejado de cuestionarse grandes heroicidades para aproximarnos a territorios habituales (y comunes). Una metfora de aquello a lo que una vez se refiri Flaubert cuando adverta que bastaba con mirar algo detenidamente para que se convirtiera en interesante y que, a su vez, el cine ha sabido transmitir a travs del primer plano hacia un objeto, un rostro, un detalle, en principio, sin importancia. Tres historias propias, en las que cada uno de estos artistas habla, a travs de su trabajo, del hecho de ficcionar la realidad, de subvertirla, de cambiarla, de inventarla e, incluso, de superarla. Unidos por sutiles puntos en comn, como la alusin a la especificidad del lugar, el uso del absurdo, la generosidad asumida en el propio compromiso con el arte y el sentido del humor, estos artistas generan relatos lgicos dentro de los cuales se producen contenidos que sobrepasan el funcionamiento de la estructura misma. Estructuras, por tanto, de mirada y uso, reflexiones sobre cmo observamos, cmo entendemos o cmo convertimos lo anormal en lo normal o, al revs. Y es que el vnculo de unin ms destacado entre ellos es la transformacin de lo cotidiano a travs de sus identidades y sus referentes personales y, adems, coinciden en pertenecer a un lugar y desarrollar su trayectoria en otro: una madrilea que ha realizado casi toda su obra en Brasil y reside entre ese pas y Espaa; un colombiano que trabaja en Pars y una nacida en Madrid que alude, en algunas de sus obras, a la bsqueda de sus races en Egipto, de donde procede su familia materna.
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Pero en esta muestra tri-individual tambin se aprecian temticas muy diferenciadas. Por un lado, a travs de exhaustivos procesos de investigacin y de superposicin de espacios, el trabajo de Teresa Solar Abboud, reflexiona sobre el aprendizaje del habla y la importancia de la comunicacin a travs de la repeticin de imgenes ya creadas. De hecho, las referencias espaciales y los lugares limtrofes suelen ser temas genricos en su obra, as como la bsqueda constante de escenarios cinematogrficos y lugares concretos sobre los que se produce una nueva relectura a partir del paso del tiempo. Genera as, un lugar nuevo, un lmite que no es exclusivamente fsico, sino que moldea el espacio existente mediante el lenguaje del espacio fotografiado. Las imgenes se aaden al espacio, al tiempo que se suceden, superponindose sus significados y convirtindose en lenguaje visual una vez ledas. El espectador asume las imgenes y traslada el hecho fsico de la imagen proyectada sobre el espacio, al hecho metafsico del lenguaje proyectado sobre la imagen. En este caso, la artista ha planteado una gran escenografa en la que, a travs de dos vdeos, Los embajadores y You have been tracking us, nos remite a un proceso de deslocalizacin de lo representado y de las fricciones entre realidad y ficcin. Tambin presenta una gran escultura con forma de lengua concebida como un gran mapa orogrfico, en el que se podra analizar metafricamente el sentido pleno de las palabras, la interlocucin o, incluso, el concepto de traslacin. Tambin en la estructura de madera concebida como un invernadero de estilo victoriano, al que la artista se refiere como el gabinete de un logopeda. En realidad, una reflexin sobre el lenguaje, la logopedia, la foniatra y las estructuras mentales del habla planteados como ejercicios de investigacin que ponen en relacin la reproduccin de un escenario para referirse a un lugar y trasladarnos a otro. Una ficcin, un juego a travs de una investigacin, relatada mediante una gran escenografa cargada de referencias flmicas, como a la pelcula Lawrence of Arabia de David Lean o My Fair Lady dirigida por George Cukor.
El trabajo de Ivn Argote propone vivir experiencias a travs de llevar a cabo determinadas acciones compartidas. La obra de este artista se caracteriza por un alto grado de humor y por el desarrollo de la performance del absurdo, concretadas en acciones en las que utiliza la propia cotidianidad de la vida en la ciudad como escenario de sus obras, concebidas como estructuras simples que producen contenido narrativo y potico. El artista est interesado en los fenmenos de micro-escala y en los comportamientos lgicos que, a su vez, hacen referencia a los comportamientos polticos, sociolgicos y artsticos. Trabaja con diferentes soportes como el vdeo, la fotografa, la performance, o la escultura. Algunos de los ejemplos de sus obras ms destacados son los vdeos-performances de corta duracin, donde el artista interviene en momentos de la cotidianidad urbana y del contexto cultural. En este caso, presenta algunos vdeos donde utiliza, de nuevo, la calle y los espacios pblicos comunes como escenario, como es el caso de Birthday (2009), en el que incita y persuade a los pasajeros de un ascensor del metro de Pars para que le canten el cumpleaos feliz, en un acto heroico ahora s- por parte de las voces annimas de los pasajeros; del mismo modo que en el autobs graba a los viajeros que son interceptados como si fueran sus propios familiares, Nous tous dans le bus (2009) o en el que aparece en un vagn de metro lamiendo y besando la barra de sujecin. Estos son slo algunos ejemplos de las acciones registradas en vdeos en las que el artista altera la rutina del ciudadano con pequeos gestos de gran carga simblica. Pero es, sin duda, la obra titulada Un ao al da, consistente en celebrar cada da, durante el perodo expositivo, el cumpleaos de la persona que lo desee en una de las salas de la muestra, donde lleva esa interaccin entre la vida y el arte, en clara referencia duchampiana, hasta sus ltimas consecuencias. Convierte el espacio expositivo en una prolongacin del espacio del pblico (que no pblico), al servicio del espectador, ofreciendo un lugar para la conmemoracin de algo tan ntimo como la ceremonia de un aniversario.
Una reflexin sobre la idea de la celebracin, del paso del tiempo como ritual cotidiano y privado para que forme parte de la memoria y documentacin de la exposicin, descontextualizando as la simbologa del espacio musestico al hacer del espectador su verdadero protagonista. Poniendo, adems, en directa relacin al artista con el pblico y dinamizando el espacio expositivo durante los das de duracin de esta muestra. Una obra compartida, cargada de una emotiva experiencia, donde cada cumpleaos ser nico, una forma de arriesgarse a la improvisacin, en esta pieza formada por las cincuenta y cinco celebraciones de todas estas personas annimas.
Y es que el impacto causado por la propia especulacin del terreno o lo que se ha dado en llamar la burbuja inmobiliaria es lo que tambin, irnicamente, aborda Sara Ramo en la pequea sala que precede a la gran instalacin, invitando al espectador a imbuirse en estas vitrinas de museo inventado en las que muestra materiales de construccin como si de una absurda investigacin se tratara junto a otros elementos que aluden a esta idea. Su obra es una experimentacin con el lugar y con los objetos en un intento de transformacin con nimo subversivo que encuentra sentido en los cdigos absurdos de la lgica potica. La esfera de las interacciones humanas y su contexto so-
Por ltimo, las transformaciones de los lugares en las obras de Sara Ramo, que ha realizado una instalacin especfica, formada por diferentes piezas, en las que reflexiona sobre algunos de los sntomas y sus posibles consecuencias de esta crisis mundial, y esta sociedad atemorizada por las altas esferas de poder. Pone, as, en duda el sistema establecido del primer mundo, reflexionando incluso sobre lo que nos quieren hacer creer o, yendo ms lejos, lo que parece que tambin quieren que consumamos, a diferentes niveles, metfora que se materializa en la instalacin titulada Lo que nos echen, una gran avalancha de bolsas de conocidas tiendas y supermercados de consumo rpido y barato nos amenazan con caernos encima a la entrada del edificio. Pero es, sin duda, la pieza central la que con mayor fuerza reflexiona sobre la especulacin del espacio en las grandes ciudades a travs de una pieza que ratifica as la experiencia de habitar un espacio catico y a medio construir. Ladrillos, vigas, cemento, mrmoles, baldosas, etc., materiales de construccin caticamente dispuestos por la sala, juegan irnicamente con la idea de sntoma a travs de la ejecucin de esta enorme instalacin realizada con diverso material de construccin y concebida como un monstruo arquitectnico, en alusin a la idea benjaminiana de la ciudad moderna como ruina contempornea.
cial son explorados por estos tres artistas a travs de obras que, aunque distintas, se caracterizan por ese estado de encuentroal que aluden una y otra vez. La muestra, por tanto, aborda la dicotoma entre espacio privado y pblico, cuestionando hasta dnde somos capaces de entender y disfrutar el arte. Porque ya incluso en el proceso de este relato expositivo que contiene estas tres historias, nos hemos basado en el propio disfrute de concebirla en su totalidad como un equipo, de hecho una de las salas de la exposicin est destinada a un lugar para trabajar conjuntamente, para generar sinergias porque Sin herosmos, por favor no ofrece una narracin lineal, por el contrario, propone participar de diferentes experiencias y reflexionar sobre la relacin entre superficie y profundidad, entre lo que est expuesto y lo que se esconde detrs. Es, en realidad, una invitacin a observar de frente lo que se escapa por el rabillo del ojo, a detenerse en los recovecos de lo minsculo, en aquello que parece no importar, pero slo lo parece. Porque, volviendo a Raymond Carver: En la mejor narrativa, el hroe o la herona es el personaje a quien le ocurre algo que marca la diferencia. Algo que altera su punto de vista ante el mundo y ante s mismo.
tania Pardo
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ONE tRIlOgy, tHREE tAlES

whats really going on, what were experiencing, the rest, all the rest, where is it? how should we take account of, question, describe what happens every day and recurs every day: the banal, the quotidian, the obvious, the common, the ordinary, the infra-ordinary, the background noise, the habitual? to question the habitual [] how are we to speak of these common things, how to track them down rather, flush them out, wrest them from the dross in which they remain mired, how to give them a meaning, a tongue, to let them, finally, speak of what is, of what we are. whats needed perhaps is finally to found our own anthropology, one that will speak about us, that will look in ourselves for what weve been pillaging from others for so long. not the exotic any more, but the endotic.
Georges Perec, LInfra-ordinaire
Years ago I read something in a letter by Chekhov that impressed me. It was a sort of an advice to one of his many correspondents, and it went something like this: Friend, you dont have to write about extraordinary people who accomplish extraordinary and memorable deeds. [] Reading what Chekhov had to say in that letter, and in other letters of his as well, and reading his stories, made me see things in a different way. These words, spoken by the American author Raymond Carver, sum up part of what this exhibition is all about: it is no longer necessary to speak of great heroes, for this is not the age of epic narratives, but it is the time to pause and consider our individual realities. This show, entitled No heroics, Please-in reference to the posthumous anthology of short stories written by this novelist and poet in his youthrevolves around the demythologisation of the creative act, for creation is in itself a feat of heroism and assertion in this case, an assertion of the importance of ordinary routine as daily activism. This book contains a collection of texts that Carvers widow, Tess Gallagher, compiled as a final tribute to her husband. In these writings, the youthful author narrates in the same way that these three artists, Ivn Argote, Teresa Solar Abboud and Sara Ramo embark on an investigation of everyday life and the realities of our ordinary existence: they are not afraid of being mistaken in their conception of those realitiesor perhaps they are, but they always take that possibility into account and focus on the fact that a significant part of the value of any creative act resides in the faint, blurred line which separates trial from error.
No heroics, Please actually consists of three solo exhibitions, three narratives conceived as independent stories but united under a single title. In these three tales, the narrative poetics has set aside grand heroics to approach us to habitual (and common) territories. This is a metaphor for what Flaubert was referring to when he said that anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enoughthe same idea that filmmakers have learned to convey through close-ups of a seemingly insignificant object, face or detail. In these three personal stories, each artist speaks through his or her work of the act of fictionalising reality, of subverting, changing, inventing and even overcoming it. United by subtle commonalities, such as allusions to the specificity of place, the use of the absurd, the generosity implied in the engagement with art and sense of humour, these artists generate logical narratives whose contents surpass the operation of the structure itself. Consequently, theirs are structures of vision and use, reflections on how we observe, how we understand and how we transform abnormality into normality or vice versa. Indeed, the most obvious common denominator in these artists work is the transformation of the ordinary through their personal references and identities. It is also interesting to note that all three come from one place and work in another: a woman from Madrid who has produced almost all of her work in Brazil and divides her time between that country and Spain; a Colombian who works in Paris; and another Madrid native whose pieces sometimes contain allusions to the search for her roots in Egypt, from where her mothers family emigrated.
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However, a number of very different themes are featured in this tri-solo show. Through exhaustive processes of research and superimposition of spaces, the work of Teresa Solar Abboud reflects on the experience of learning speech and the importance of communication with the repetition of pre-existing images. In fact, spatial references and borderline places tend to be generic themes in her oeuvre, as is the constant quest for cinematographic settings and concrete places subject to reinterpretation with the passage of time. This allows her to generate a new place, a boundary that is not solely physical but moulds the existing space using the language of the photographed space. The images are added to the space and simultaneously succeed each other; their meanings overlap, and once read they become visual language. The spectator accepts the images and translates the physical reality of the image projected on to the space into the metaphysical reality of the language projected on to the image. In this case, the artist has devised a great mise-en-scne in which, through two videosLos embajadores and You Have Been Tracking Usshe refers us to a process of displacement of the represented object and of the frictions between reality and fiction. Abboud also presents a large tongue-shaped sculpture conceived as a huge orography map on which the full meaning of words, interlocution and even the concept of translation can be metaphorically analysed. The same is true of the wooden structure resembling a Victorian greenhouse, which the artist refers to as a speech therapists office. In reality, it is a reflection on language, speech therapy, phoniatrics and speech mental structures viewed as research exercises that relate the reproduction of a setting in order to refer to one place and transport us to another. It is a fiction, a game set in a research context, narrated against a great backdrop packed with cinematographic allusions, such as the references to David Leans Lawrence of Arabia or My Fair Lady directed by George Cukor.
The oeuvre of Ivn Argote invites us to live experiences by performing certain shared actions. This artists work is intensely humorous and incorporates aspects of absurd performance art, materialised in actions where he uses the very ordinariness of life in the city as the backdrop for his works, which are conceived as simple structures that generate narrative and poetic contents. The artist is fascinated by micro-scale phenomena and logical behaviours, which in turn refer to political, sociological and artistic behaviours. He works with a variety of media, such as video, photography, performance and sculpture. Argotes short performance videos, where the artist intervenes in moments of urban everyday life and the cultural context, are among his most notable creations. In the videos featured in this exhibition, the street and public common areas are once again his settings of choice. For example, in Birthday (2009), he urges and eventually convinces the passengers in a lift on the Paris underground to sing him Happy Birthday, thereby persuading the anonymous lift-riders voices to perform what in this case constitutes a heroic act. In the same way, in Nous tous dans le bus (2009) he records passengers whom he greets as if they were members of his own family and in another piece, the artist shows himself licking and kissing one of the bars in an underground carriage. These are just some examples of the actions captured on video wherethe artist alters the ordinary routine of anonymous citizens by performing minor yet highly symbolic acts.
However, it is undoubtedly the piece entitled Un ao al dawhich entails celebrating the birthday of a different volunteer each day for the duration of the show in one of the exhibition roomsthat takes this interaction between life and art, with its obviously Duchampian connotations, to the greatest extreme. The artist turns the exhibition space into an extension of the publics space (as opposed to the public space) and places it at the spectators disposal, offering a place to commemorate something as personal as a birthday ceremony. It is a reflection on the idea of celebration, of the passage of time as an ordinary, private ritual that becomes part of the memory and documentation of the exhibition, de-contextualising the symbolism of the museum space by making the spectator the true protagonist. It also establishes a direct connection between the artist and the audience, filling the space with dynamic vitality for the duration of the show. This is a shared work, charged with emotional experience, where each birthday will be unique, a daring form of improvisation in this piece consisting of the fifty-five birthday celebrations of all these anonymous people. Finally, we find the transformations of places in the works of Sara Ramo, who has created a site-specific installation comprising different pieces that reflect on some of the symptoms and possible consequences of this global crisis and this society cowed by the upper echelons of power. In this way, Ramo calls the established system of the developed world into question and even reflects on what they want to make us believe or, going even further, what it seems they also want us to consume on different levels. This metaphor materialises in the installation entitled Lo que nos echen, an avalanche of bags from well-known shops and supermarkets, temples of fast and cheap consumerism, which threaten to topple over and bury us at the buildings entrance. Yet the central piece is undoubtedly the one that offers the most powerful reflection on big-city property speculation, by ratifying the experience of inhabiting a chaotic, half-finished space. Bricks, beams, cement, marble, flooring tiles and all kinds of building materials chaotically strewn about the room offer an ironic commentary on the concept of the symptom.
This huge installation of construction materials was conceived as an architectural monster, a reference to the Benjaminian notion of the modern city as a contemporary ruin. In the small antechamber to the hall where the massive installation is located, Sara Ramo offers another ironic reflection on the impact of that same property speculation the so-called real estate bubblewhere spectators are invited to explore these imaginary museum display cases filled with building materials, arranged as if they were part of some absurd research project, and other elements that allude to this idea. Her work is an experiment with the place and with objects, a deliberately subversive attempt at transformation that finds meaning in the absurd codes of poetic logic. The sphere of human interactions and their social context are explored by these three artists through works which, although different, are all characterised by that state of encounter to which they refer time and again. The exhibition therefore addresses the dichotomy of public versus private space, questioning the degree to which we are capable of understanding and enjoying art. For even the process of crafting the exhibition narrative containing these three tales has revolved around the simple enjoyment derived from designing the entire project as a team; in fact, one of the exhibition rooms is set aside as a space for teamwork, for generating synergies, because No heroics, Please does not offer a linear narrative. On the contrary, it invites us to participate in different experiences and to reflect on the relationship between surface and depth, between what is displayed and what is hidden behind it. In reality, it is an invitation to obtain a full frontal view of something that we normally see as a flash from the corner of our eyes, to leisurely contemplate the nooks and crannies of the miniscule, of that which seems not to matter but does. For, to quote Raymond Carver once more, In the best fiction, the central character, the hero or heroine, is also the moved character, the one to whom something happens in the story that makes a difference. Something happens that changes the way that character looks at himself and hence the world.
tania Pardo
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tHE HAIR
Lo intenta con la lengua, luego se sienta en la cama y empieza a escarbar con los dedos. Afuera comienza un da agradable, cantan los pjaros. Coge la caja de cerillas, le arranca una esquina y hurga con ella entre los dientes. Nada. Pero puede sentirlo. Pasa la lengua por los dientes movindola de atrs hacia delante y se detiene al toparse con el pelo. Palpa con la lengua alrededor del pelo y luego da un suave toque entre los dos dientes, tanteando con la lengua la extensin del pelo y aplastndolo contra el velo del paladar. Lo toca con el dedo. Qu pasa? le pregunta su mujer, sentndose en la cama. Nos hemos dormido? Qu hora es? Tengo algo entre los dientes. No puedo sacarlo. No s Parece un pelo. Va al bao y se mira en el espejo. Luego se lava las manos y la cara con agua fra. Enciende la lamparilla del espejo. No lo puedo ver pero s que est ah. Si pudiera cogerlo con los dedos un momento podra sacarlo. Su mujer entra en el bao, rascndose la cabeza y bostezando. Lo tienes, cario? Aprieta los dientes y sujeta el labio hasta que las uas le rasgan la piel. Espera un momento. Djame ver le dice ella acercndose. Est de pie bajo la luz, con la boca abierta, la cabeza torcida, limpiando con la manga del pijama el cristal cuando se empaa.
No veo nada le dice. l apaga la luz del espejo y deja correr el agua en la ducha. A la mierda. Tengo que prepararme para ir a trabajar. No tiene ganas de desayunar y decide ir caminando hasta el trabajo. Le sobra mucho tiempo. Nadie tiene llave excepto el jefe y si llega tan temprano tendr que esperar. Pasa por la esquina vaca en la que suele aguardar el autobs. Un perro al que no haba visto antes por el barrio levanta la pata y se pone a mear sobre la seal del autobs. Eh! El perro deja de mear y se acerca corriendo. Otro perro que tampoco reconoca se acerca corriendo, husmea la seal y se pone a mear tambin. Una mancha dorada y ligeramente vaporosa avanza por la acera. Eh, fuera de aqu! el perro suelta unas pocas gotas ms y ambos cruzan la acerca. Parece que le miran como si se estuvieran riendo de l. Mueve con la lengua el pelo entre los dientes. Bonito da, no? pregunta el jefe al abrir la puerta delantera y levantar la persiana. Miran hacia fuera y asienten sonriendo. S, un da estupendo dice uno de ellos. Demasiado para pasarlo trabajando dice otro, rindose con los dems. S, as es dice el jefe. Sube las escaleras para abrir la seccin de ropa de chicos. Silba y hace sonar las llaves. Ms tarde, sube del almacn en camiseta fumando un cigarrillo despus de haber desayunado. Hace calor hoy. S, as es nunca se haba fijado en que el jefe tena mucho pelo en los brazos. Se sienta escarbando con la ua entre los dientes, mirando fijamente las gruesas matas de pelo negro que tiene el jefe entre los dedos. Ver, me preguntaba si no lo considera oportuno no
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hay problema, naturalmente, pero si lo cree posible, y siempre que no meta a nadie en un apuro, me gustara irme a casa. No me encuentro muy bien. Bien, podemos arreglarnos. se no es el problema, desde luego da un trago a su Coke y se queda mirndole. Vale, de acuerdo, slo me lo preguntaba. Disculpe. No, no hay problema. Vete a casa. Llmeme esta noche para saber cmo ests mira el reloj y termina la Coke. Diez y veinticinco. Digamos diez y media. Mrchate ahora y apuntaremos a las diez y media. En la calle se afloja el cuello de la camisa y empieza a caminar. Se siente raro yendo por la ciudad con un pelo en la boca. Lo toca con la lengua. Camina sin mirar a la gente. Al poco rato empieza a sudar y siente la humedad en las axilas en la camiseta. A veces se detiene ante los escaparates, fija la vista en el cristal e intenta atraparlo con los dedos. Luego contina en direccin a casa. Cruza el parque Lions Club y se queda mirando a los nios que juegan en la piscina infantil. Ms tarde, paga a una anciana los cincuenta cntimos de la entrada al pequeo zoo para ver los pjaros y otros animales. Tras pasarse un buen rato mirando al monstruo de Gila1, la criatura abre un ojo y lo mira. Da la vuelta, sale del parque y se dirige a casa. No tiene mucha hambre, slo toma un poco de caf para pensar. Tras unos sorbos, dobla la lengua de nuevo sobre el pelo. Se levanta de la mesa. Cario, qu te pasa? le pregunta su mujer Dnde vas? Creo que me voy a acostar. No me encuentro bien. Ella le sigue hasta la habitacin y se queda mirndole mientras se desviste. Puedo hacer algo por ti? No sera mejor que llamara al mdico? Me gustara saber qu pasa.
No te preocupes, me pondr bien se cubre con el cobertor hasta los hombros, se da la vuelta y cierra los ojos. Le baja la persiana. Voy a ordenar un poco la cocina y vuelvo luego. Tumbado se siente mejor. Se toca la frente y le parece que tiene fiebre. Lamindose los labios palpa el final del pelo con la lengua. Le entra un escalofro. Poco despus, empieza a dormitar pero despierta de repente y se acuerda de que tiene que llamar al jefe. Sale de la cama y se acerca a la cocina. Su mujer lava los platos. Cre que estabas dormido, cario. Te sientes mejor? Asiente en silencio y descuelga el telfono. Habla con Informacin. Tiene mal sabor de boca mientras marca el nmero que le dan. Hola. S, creo que estoy mejor. Maana ir a trabajar, s. De acuerdo. Ocho y media en punto. Vuelve a la cama y se pasa la lengua por los dientes otra vez. Suele hacerlo a menudo y no se haba dado cuenta hasta hoy. Poco antes de quedarse dormido casi haba conseguido no pensar en ello. Pensaba en el da tan estupendo que haba hecho y en los nios jugando en la piscina. Los pjaros cantando temprano. Pero se despierta en mitad e la noche gritando y sudando. Siente que se ahoga, mueve la cabeza de un lado a otro pateando bajo las sbanas y asustando a su esposa, que no sabe lo que pasa.
Se conoce por ese nombre a un lagarto gigante venenoso procedente de Arizona (N. del T.)
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BREVE glOSARIO dEl ARgOtE*
* la palabra francesa argot significa jerga, el lenguaje especial y familiar que usa cotidianamente una comunidad. argote, apellido de un artista colombiano afincado en Pars, Ivn argote (Bogot, 1983), con el sufijo e que en francs suele indicar femenino, es un desplazamiento semntico que se refiere a un acto de habla singular que rompe con la convencin sin dejar de ser comunicativo, una mala traduccin, un acto fallido o un error tipogrfico; un ejercicio singular de la subjetividad a travs del lenguaje. su nombre, Ivn, es la adaptacin latina de un apelativo hebreo que significa el que es bendecido por dios y del que ha derivado Juan en castellano. Ivn se conserv en europa del este sin derivaciones y adquiri popularidad internacional tras la revolucin rusa, asociado al personaje de Ivn el terrible. accidente Amigo (2012) es una escultura, un autorretrato accidental: un molde de escayola, como el resultado de un brazo enyesado para curar una rotura, pero de cuerpo entero. Este molde se ofrece a los otros para que escriban sobre l, como un espacio embrionario donde los ajenos se convierten en amigos a medida que se inscriben en el vaciado, la sincdoque, de su cuerpo. El accidente es la esttica de la recepcin. cubo Blanco arqueologa En 2011, Argote realiz la pieza Nose Job: una vitrina que muestra un fragmento de granito rojo donde se puede ver tallada una nariz. Se refiere al apndice perdido de la Esfinge de Guiza, pero no como falso fragmento arqueolgico, sino como la pieza que falta, un elemento cultural que permite reconstruir la historia como un puzzle. Titulndola Rinoplastia, hace del fragmento el total; el misterio que guarda es un quin se ha quedado con ese trozo expoliado. La nariz es un sntoma de los relatos perdidos o raptados por los ganadores de la Historia. celebracin El vdeo Birthday (2009) filma en primera persona una accin realizada en el metro Abbesses, en Pars, en su masivo ascensor que salva la distancia con el nivel de calle en el bajo Montmartre. Argote le cuenta a los presentes, obligados a compartir su espacio despus del cierre de puertas en el trayecto, que es su cumpleaos y que le gustara que, como est solo en la ciudad, le canten el feliz cumpleaos. Los espectadores le hacen una celebracin que es pura empata: la del arte felizmente terminado por su pblico, que suspende su juicio y confa. economa El sometimiento al valor mercantil, a la cifra, con su lgica aplastante, es una de las consecuencias de una metodologa cientfica aplicada a los productos culturales que la exceden por naturaleza. Time is Money (2007) es un reloj digital realizado con moneda corriente. La pieza existe en dos divisas: en euros o en dlares; ambas economas de Occidente se confunden con el tiempo del trabajo inmaterial, absolutamente precario en el borde del mercado. La convencin espacial de los lugares de exposicin para arte contemporneo es el ttulo de una obra de Argote, White Cube (2009). Consiste en una piata blanca que, al ser abatida, revela los dulces coloridos en su interior, como un comentario relacional y crtico, una superacin del minimalismo concebido como un homenaje a la obra de Felix Gonzalez-Torres. convencin Very Good! (2008) es una pintura, que figura una v roja, que sobresale del marco. Ese signo de correcto, administrativo, excede fsicamente la representacin. Argote no imita de forma fra y cosmtica la esttica de la administracin del conceptualismo, sino que la utiliza ms all de su marco de referencia.
Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor
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emocin Feeling (2009) es el registro de una accin realizada por Argote en el Centro Pompidou: coloca la cmara en el suelo, una radio bajo un cuadro Cruz negra- de Malevich, la sintoniza hasta encontrar msica, Close To You de The Cure, y la baila hasta que termina. Se trata de una crtica institucional: las instituciones artsticas participan del discurso que, al fijar la obra en la Historia, niega su posibilidad de producir subjetividad, de conmover identidades. La desfibrilacin emocional de lo moderno en sus mismos trminos, los del propio sentimiento reivindicado en el manifiesto suprematista, quiebra esa estandarizacin de ciudadano/espectador. ensBa En la cole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts de Pars, Argote se form en los talleres del artista Claude Closky, atento a las polticas de la representacin; tambin, en los de Guillaume Paris, conocido por su especial relacin con los modos de circulacin y archivo de la cultura visual. En estos talleres, coincide con otros artistas de su generacin como Neil Beloufa o Pauline Bastard. escala En 2008, realiz en Berln la escultura pblica Trap en un descampado por donde haba pasado el Muro. Consiste en una trampa para ratones cuya escala se ha modificado hasta lo monumental. A pesar de ser un desplazamiento relacionado con el pop art de Oldenburg, Argote lo convierte en plenamente contextual: est realizada con maderas encontradas en el lugar y se refiere directamente a cmo los indicios de la Historia pueden fcilmente convertirse en trampas, modalidades de retencin. escatologa Como una forma de hacer ms llevadera la repulsin, se dice que pisar mierda da suerte. En una de sus piezas, como si se tratase de un videojuego, slo vemos su pie pisando violentamente y a voluntad, cagadas sobre el suelo, una y otra vez.
experiencia Desde finales del siglo XIX, uno de los tpicos de la filosofa moderna ha sido cmo la cultura y la historia han empobrecido la experiencia directa del mundo, convirtindolo en referencial o representacional. Para Argote, filsofo frustrado, el arte es una experiencia filosfica o filosofa experiencial. Familia En 2009, Argote film, de nuevo en primera persona, la accin Nous tous dans le bus: entra en un autobs pblico y va presentando a los que se encuentran en su interior como miembros de su familia. Irona sobre la necesidad de enraizarse cuando uno se ha desplazado de su lugar de origen, se refiere tambin a la ruptura del espacio ajeno, de la condicin de extrao, que rige nuestras formas de intersubjetividad. Ilustra lo que explica Julia Kristeva en trangers nous-mmes: la norma en nuestras ciudades es la obligatoria relacin con perfectos desconocidos. Farsante The Pigeon (2010) muestra a una paloma de bronce pintado entre palomas reales que parecen no notar su diferencia. El farsante, la mentira, no son un problema; el problema surge al sealar su condicin. De un prestidigitador no esperamos que no haga trucos, sino que los realice con tal capacidad que nunca podamos desvelar aquella farsa que sabemos que, por fuerza, ha tenido que ocurrir. Generosidad Argote reparte en el metro monedas de 20 cntimos en una accin del 2007, I just Want to Give Your Money. A pesar de su generosidad, aunque sea para una fotocopia, acaba saliendo en la estacin del Santo Suplicio sin haber logrado que nadie acepte ni una. El altruismo es el lmite de la empata porque exige la complicidad de la respuesta: estar en deuda por algo.
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Graffiti Los graffiti son actos de resistencia urbana, seales de identificacin socioterritorial. Esa tcnica es usada por Argote en Retouch (2008), el registro de una accin en la que coloca la cmara en el suelo y hace un garabato con spray de pintura negra sobre dos cuadros de Mondrian en el Centro Pompidou. El retoque, en este caso, consiste en deshacer la condicin aurtica, intocable, inhabitable de la modernidad. Deshacer su intransigencia y hacerla de nuevo lienzo en blanco sobre la que trabajar. La provocacin es para jalear al pblico, no para daar obras protegidas tras un cristal. Juego Argote realiza, a partir de fotografas encontradas en Internet, totalmente cotidianas y amateur, Piedra, papel o tijera (2009), un programa que elige al azar entre tres bancos de mil imgenes cada uno, con gestos que, descontextualizados, parecen referirse a ese juego infantil. As, como un sistema aleatorio de valor, confronta esas imgenes para hacer que una de ellas gane cada vez, reduciendo al absurdo los valores sociales: el juego no es el banal quin gana o quin pierde, sino la relacionalidad que el propio juego produce. Participacin La participacin no es lo mismo que accionar un mecanismo en una pieza, sino que implica un peligro y una violencia de pasar a formar parte de las intenciones de otro y, al tiempo, de convertirse en actor responsable de la obra misma. En Hiss, en 2009, Argote situ un amplificador y una guitarra elctrica sobre una mesa de lectura en la biblioteca de la ENSBA, otorgando al usuario la posibilidad de distorsionar musicalmente el espacio silencioso de lectura. Performance Una performance filmada en vivo y en primera persona tiene algo de testimonio, de registro de atestado. En Making of (2007) se sube al metro, detiene la cmara en un plano fijo y comienza a dar instrucciones a la audiencia como si se tratase de un director de cine en medio de una filmacin. Como si la gente que, casualmente, se encontraba en el metro fuesen sus extras, fuesen representacin. Como en los vdeos de John Smith, la existencia en el mismo mundo es lo que se performativiza para hacerla, contradictoriamente, consciente de lo real. Como pellizcarse soando.
Pintura Mamarrachos, de 2011, son una serie de pinturas de apariencia gestual, como garabatos, que exceden su marco y se convierten en escultopinturas diseadas. Los mamarrachos son cosas defectuosas, informales. Devolver los gestos informalistas de la abstraccin expresionista a un diseo y, al tiempo, sacarlas de su marco, parece un manifiesto de historia crtica del arte: por repolitizar y recontextualizar sus relatos. Poder Como el amor y la risa, el poder lo ejercen las personas. Lovely (2010) muestra una furgoneta de la polica alemana agitada por el ritmo oscilante de un acto sexual. Poltica En la Universidad Nacional de Colombia en Bogot, sustituye graffiti con textos como Bolivar vive por las mismas oraciones maquetadas y tipografiadas en Times New Roman, la tipografa por defecto de Microsoft (More formal, 2009): lo poltico, se revela, contradictoriamente, en el contexto de la rebelda, como estilizado y, sobre todo, serializado como las poses. Postcolonialismo Horses son una serie de collages digitales en los que los jinetes heroicos de estatuas ecuestres de lugares pblicos de Pars y Nueva York han sido borrados. El caballo se revela como el ingrediente que otorgaba el poder, el elemento esttico de soporte que permita la lectura unilateral y progresiva de la historia que sugiere la idea de hroe. Argote confronta esa Historia a la potencialidad de los microrrelatos, sujetos a una condicin postcolonial. Promiscuidad Altruism es una accin en la que Argote lame y besa la barra central de sujecin de los pasajeros en un vagn de metro. Es el lugar que todos tocan, el sntoma de la igualdad, pero tambin el lugar temido por la posibilidad de contagios, de la contaminacin del otro. Argote realiza una accin de promiscuidad como un nuevo ndice de la necesidad del roce, de la obligatoriedad de incorporar al otro, a todos los otros.
Queer En All My Girlfriends (2006) imita las poses de las modelos de los anuncios que se encuentra en la calle. Esas fotografas amateur son como los recuerdos efmeros de relaciones autorretratadas, pero aqu el supuesto novio deviene un mimo de sus novias ocasionales: un travesti emocional. relacional Con Pauline Bastard ha realizado un sendero de madera desde el que se ve una exposicin (Path, 2010) y una Sauna para ver videoarte (2010), con la finalidad de reemplazar el racionalismo del Cubo Blanco por una relacionalidad que obligue a renegociar una y otra vez las circunstancias de recepcin, la atencin, la superficie de contacto con la esfera pblica. revuelta En Riot (2008/2009) Argote convierte a los transentes en falsos indignados al hacerlos posar sobre elementos urbanos maltrechos, que haban sufrido accidentes anteriormente. Como la otra cara de la eliminacin de lo humano en las estatuas ecuestres, aadir seres humanos posando sobre esas seales y mojones es legitimar el poder del ciudadano y, al tiempo, ironizar sobre la construccin de la iconografa del revolucionario. tiempo Con la pieza Un ao al da (2012), cada da de exposicin se celebrar el cumpleaos de alguien: el espacio es un lugar pblico ofrecido para aquellos que quieran hacer all pblica su fiesta habitualmente privada, la muestra convertida en una exasperada escenografa de celebraciones continuas. As, el tiempo de la muestra es el tiempo de cada uno y de los que le acompaan. Cada da, a travs del exceso y dispendio de la fiesta, la muestra aade un ao ms a la obra, un tiempo relativo, subjetivo, emocional, que rompe con cualquier principio de lgica racional y econmica.
manuel segade
trayecto Las performances de Argote en el metro transcurren en un tramo impuesto, entre dos paradas, como un marco de trabajo, o un mtodo formal de economa de tiempo, de consumo digital online. Pero tambin es el mismo corte de agenda pblica de los mendigos. vida Las Vanguardias Histricas intentaron una y otra vez entrelazar arte y vida cotidiana, provocando un debate entre autonoma e integracin que no ha cesado hasta hoy. En una entrevista, Argote deca que intentar separar el arte y la vida le pareca pretencioso.
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A SHORt glOSSARy OF ARgOtE*
* the French word argot means slang, the special, and familiar language used by a particular community on a daily basis. argote, the surname of a colombian artist based in Paris, Ivn argote (Bogot, 1983), with the suffix e that usually indicates the feminine form in French, is a semantic displacement referring to a unique speech act that breaks with convention while retaining its communicative function, a mistranslation, a Freudian slip or a typing mistake; a unique exercise in subjectivity through language. his name, Ivn, is the latin adaptation of a hebrew appellative meaning he who is blessed by yahweh, from which the spanish Juan is derived. the form Ivan was preserved in eastern europe with no derivatives and its popularity increased worldwide in the wake of the russian revolution, associated with Ivan the terrible. accidente (Accident) Amigo (Friend) (2012) is a sculpture, an accidental self-portrait: a plaster cast, like plaster from a broken arm, used to heal, but of a full-body version. This cast is offered to others so that they can write on it, like an embryonic space where strangers become friends as they record their messages on the hollow, the synecdoche, of his body. The accident represents the aesthetics of reception. cubo Blanco (White Cube) arqueologa (Archaeology) In 2011, Argote completed the work Nose Job: a showcase containing a fragment of red granite featuring a chiseled nose. It represents the lost appendage of the Sphinx of Gizanot as a false archaeological fragment, but rather as the missing piece, a cultural element that allows history to be pieced back together like a jigsaw puzzle. By choosing to call it Nose Job, he restores the entirety of the fragment; the mystery it does not reveal is who has kept the looted piece. The nose is a symptom of the stories that have been lost or hi-jacked by the winners in History. celebracin (Celebration) The video Birthday (2009) is a first-person recording of an intervention carried out at the Abbesses underground station in Paris, in the huge lift that takes passengers up onto the street at the bottom of Montmartre. Argote tells the strangers in the lift, who are forced to share the space with him after the doors close on the way up, that its his birthday and that hed like them to sing Happy Birthday to him because hes on his own in the city. The spectators erupt in a celebration that is pure empathy: the empathy of art completed by its enthusiastic audience, who suspend udgment and decide to trust. economa (Economics) Submission to commercial value, to figures and their implacable logic, is one of the consequences of applying scientific methods to cultural products, when by their very nature they transcend it. Time is Money (2007) is a digital clock made out of common currency. The piece is available in two different currencies -euro or dollar-both western economies which merge with the time of intangible work, absolutely precarious on the fringe of the market. The spatial convention of the exhibition venue for contemporary art is the title of a work by Argote called White Cube (2009). It consists of a white piata which when torn apart reveals the colourful sweets inside, like a relational, critical commentary that goes beyond minimalism and is conceived as a tribute to the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. convencin (Convention) Very Good! (2008) is a painting depicting a red V that protrudes beyond the frame. This clerical correct sign physically transcends the depiction. Argote does not engage in a cold, cosmetic imitation of the aesthetics of the administration of conceptualism; he employs it outside its framework of reference.
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emocin (Emotion) Feeling (2009) is the record of an intervention carried out by Argote at the Pompidou Centre where he places the camera on the floor and a radio under a painting (Croix noire, by Malevich), fiddled with the tuning until he found music (Close To You, by The Cure), and danced until the song finished. This is an institutional critique: artistic institutions are participants in the discourse which, by pigeonholing a work in History, deny its possibility of producing subjectivity, of moving identities. The emotional defibrillation of the modern on its own terms -those of the sentiment claimed in the Manifesto of Suprematism- breaks with this standardisation of the member of the public/ spectator. ensBa At the cole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Argote trained under Clause Closky, an artist who explores the politics of representation, and also under Guillaume Paris, who is known for his particular interest in modes of circulation and the archiving of visual culture. Other artists belonging to his generation who also trained under these professors are Neil Beloufa and Pauline Bastard. Escala (Scale) In 2008, Argote completed the public sculpture Trap, situated on a vacant lot in Berlin through which the Wall used to pass. It consists of a mouse-trap on a monumental scale. Despite being a displacement reminiscent of Oldenburgs pop art, Argote makes it entirely contextual: consisting of wood found at the site, it refers directly to how historical evidence can easily become a trap or a means of retention. escatologa (Scatology) Perhaps to make the repulsion more bearable, people say that to step into faeces brings good luck. In this work, all we see is the artists foot, as if in a video-game, stepping heavily and enthusiastically onto droppings on the ground, time and time again.
experiencia (Experience) Since the late 19th century, one of the recurring themes in modern philosophy has been how culture and history have impoverished the direct experience of the world, making it merely referential or representational. To Argote, a frustrated philosopher, art is a philosophical experience or an experimental philosophy. Familia (Family) In 2009, Argote filmed (again, in the first person) the intervention We are all in the bus: he got on a public bus and introduced the passengers travelling inside as if they were members of his family. This work is a satire about our need to put down roots when we move away from our homes. It also refers to breaking into the alien space, and the status of stranger, which governs our forms of intersubjectivity. It illustrates what Julia Kristeva explains in trangers nous-mmes: the norm in our cities is that imposed relationship with perfect strangers. Farsante (Impostor) The Pigeon (2010) depicts a bronze painted pigeon in the midst of real pigeons which seem oblivious to the difference. The impostor, or the lie, is not the problem; the problem arises when their condition is revealed. We do not only expect a magician to play tricks, but to do so with such skill that we would never be able to fathom the farcical pretence that we know must be present. Generosidad (Generosity) In an intervention carried out in 2007 and entitled I Just Want to Give You Money, Argote handed out 20-cent coins in the underground. Despite his generosity, even if it only covers the cost of a photocopy, he ends up leaving SaintSulpice Station without managing to convince a single person to accept a coin. Altruism verges on empathy because it requires the complicity of the response: to be indebted for something.
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Graffiti Graffiti are acts of urban resistance, hallmarks of socio-territorial identity. This technique is employed by Argote in Retouch (2008), the record of an intervention in which he places the camera on the floor and uses a black spray to scribble on two paintings by Mondrian at the Pompidou Centre. The touch-up in this case, consists of deconstructing the auratic, untouchable, uninhabitable nature of modernitydeconstructing its intransigence and restoring it as a white canvas to work on afresh. The provocation is to stir up the onlookers, rather than to damage the works, which are protected behind a pane of glass. Juego (Game) Argote uses ordinary, amateur photographs found on the internet to create Piedra, papel o tijera Rock, paper, scissors (2009), a program that chooses at random from three image banks, each containing a thousand photos, with gestures which when taken out of context recall the childhood game of the works title. Thus, like a random value system, it juxtaposes these images so that a different one wins every time, reducing social values to the absurd: in the game, the banality does not reside in who wins or who loses, but rather in the relationality produced by the game. Participacin (Participation) Participation is not the same as operating a mechanism in a piece: it implies the danger and the violence of becoming part of anothers intentions and, at the same time, of becoming an agent responsible for the work itself. In Hiss, in 2009, Argote placed an amplifier and an electric guitar on a reading table in the library at the ENSBA, allowing the user to distort the silent reading-space with music.
Pintura (Painting) Mamarrachos (Grotesques), from 2011, are a series of paintings like gestures, or scribbles, that transcend the frame and become designed sculpture-paintings. Mamarrachos are things which are defective or informal. To restore the informalist gestures of expressionist abstraction to a design, and, at the same time, take them outside their frame, is like a manifesto of a critical history of art: repoliticising and recontextualising its stories. Poder (Power) Like love and laughter, power is exercised by people. Lovely (2010) shows a German police van shaking to the steady rhythm of a sex act. Poltica (Politics) At the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogot, the artist replaces graffiti texts such as Bolivar vive (Bolivar lives on) with the same expressions in Times New Roman, the default font used by Microsoft (More formal, 2009): politics are paradoxically revealed, in the context of rebellion, as stylised and above all, as serialised poses. Postcolonialismo (Post-colonialism) Horses are a series of digital collages in which the heroic riders on equestrian statues in public places in Paris and New York have been erased. The horse is revealed as the ingredient that granted power, the supporting aesthetic element that allowed the unilateral, progressive interpretation of history that suggested the idea of the hero. Argote juxtaposes this History with the potential of flash fiction, subordinated to a post-colonial status. Promiscuidad (Promiscuity)
Queer In All My Girlfriends (2006), the artist imitates the poses of models in billboards he sees on the street. These amateur photographs are like the ephemeral memories of self-portrayed relations, but here the so-called boyfriend is receiving affection from his casual girlfriends: an emotional transvestite.
manuel segade
vida (Life) The historical avant-gardes attempted over and over again to link art and ordinary life, sparking a debate between autonomy and integration which has continued to the present day. In an interview, Argote once said that he thought any attempt to separate art from life was pretentious.
relacional (Relational) With Pauline Bastard, he created a wooden path from which it was possible to see an exhibition (Path, 2010) and a Sauna for watching video art (2010), in an attempt to replace the rationalism of the White Cube with a relationality that forces us to renegotiate the circumstances of reception, the attention and the interface for contact with the public sphere, over and over again. revuelta (Riot) In Riot (2008/2009), Argote turns passers-by into false demonstrators by making them pose on urban fittings in poor condition which have previously been involved in accidents. Like the flip side of removing the human element from the equestrian statues, adding human beings who pose on these signs and landmarks legitimises citizen power, while simultaneously creating a satire about the construction of the revolutionarys iconography. tiempo (Time) Un ao al da A Year a Day (2012) is the celebration of a birthday within the museum space: the time of the exhibition becomes the time of each birthday. The exhibition is an exasperated staging of continuous celebrations. Every day, through the excess and expense of the party, the exhibition adds another year to the worka time that is relative, subjective, emotional, which shies from any principle of rational or economic logic. trayecto (Journey) Argotes performances on the underground take place in an imposed section, between two stops, like milestones, or a formal method for saving time or online digital consumption. However, it is also the same public separation between beggars.
Performance A first-hand live recording of a performance has something of a testimony, an official statement. In Making of (2007), the artist gets on the underground, stops the camera on a fixed shot and starts giving instructions to the audience, as if he were a film director in the middle of a shoot. It is as if the people who happened to be on the underground were extras, or representation. Like in John Smiths videos, existence in the world itself is what is performatised to make the viewer, paradoxically, conscious of reality. Like pinching oneself in a dream.
Altruism is an intervention in which Argote licks and kisses the central bar that passengers hold on to in an underground carriage. This is the place that everyone touches, the symptom of equality; but it is also the place that is feared because of the possibility of infections, of being contaminated by others. Argote carried out this intervention on promiscuity to provide new evidence of the need to reach out and touch others, the compulsion to incorporate the other, to incorporate all others.
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Sin herosmos, por favor Fortachones / 2009 Fotografa. 80 x 120 cm Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Strong people / 2009 Fotograph. 80 x 120 cm Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Untitled (New York) / 2011 Vdeo HD, 18 25 Cortesa del artista y lGalerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Untitled (New York) / 2011 Video HD, 18 25 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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La paloma / 2011 Vdeo HD, 12 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor The Pigeon / 2011 Video HD, 12 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Historia de la humanidad / 2011 Film super 8mm y proyeccin, 7 5 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor History of Humanity / 2011 Super 8mm Film and projector, 7 5 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Cumpleaos / 2009 Vdeo HD, 1 10 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Birthday / 2009 Video HD, 1 10 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Nous tous dans le bus Todos en el bus / 2009 Vdeo HD, 45 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Nous tous dans le bus We all in the bus / 2009 Vdeo HD, 45 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Making of / 2007 Vdeo DV-PAL, 1 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Making of / 2007 Video DV-PAL, 1 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Rock, scissors, paper (Piedra papel o tijera) / 2009-2012 Aplicacin de ordenador y proyeccin Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Rock, scissors, paper (Piedra papel o tijera) / 2009-2012 Computer application & projection Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Nose Job Rinoplastia / 2012 Intervencin en el Museo del Louvre en Pars. Documentacin Vdeo HD, 3 33 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Nose job / 2012 Action in Le Louvre, Paris. Video Documentation HD, 3 33 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Monumento glup glup / 2009 Intervencin realizada en Bogot. Documentacin Video HD, 3 33 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Glup glup monument / 2009. Action in Bogot. Video Documentation HD, 3 33 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Retoque / 2008 Vdeo DV-PAL, 12 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Retouch / 2008 Video DV-PAL, 12 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Feeling / 2009 Vdeo HD, 3 33 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Feeling / 2009 Video HD, 3 33 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Todas mis novias / 2007-2009 30 fotografas, 40 x 30 cm c/u Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor All my girlfriends / 2007-2009 30 photographs, 40 x 30 cm each Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Altruismo / 2011 Vdeo HD, 1 Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Altruism / 2011 Video HD, 1 Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris
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Extracto / 2012 Ladrillos, pintura en spray y soporte. 230 x 55 x 20 cm. Cortesa del artista, Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Pars y Nettie Horn, Londres
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Extract / 2012 Bricks, spray paint and support. 230 x 55 x 20 cm Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Emmanuele Perrotin, Paris & Nettie Horn, London
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Home cinema, en colaboracin con Pauline Bastard / 2012 Instalacin (sofs, madera, lector dvd y proyeccin). 470 x 330 x 220 cm. Cortesa del artista y Pauline Bastard y Nettie Horn, Londres
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Home cinema / in collaboration with Pauline Bastard / 2012 Installation (sofas, Wood, DVD player and projector) 470 x 330 x 220 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Pauline Bastard & Nettie Horn, London
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Alone (Solo) Proyecto en proceso desde 2009. Archivo fotogrfico Cortesa del artista
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Alone Ongoing Project since 2009. Photographic archive Courtesy of the artist
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Caballos / 2011 Serie de fotografas. 50x70 cm. (c/u) Cortesa del artista y Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Pars
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Horses / 2011 Series of photographies. 50 x 70 cm. (each) Cortesa del artista & Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Pars
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Amigo / 2012 Escultura de yeso. 1,72 x 85 x 66 cm. Cortesa del artista
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor Friend / 2012 Sculpture of plaster. 1,72 x 85 x 66 cm. Courtesy of the artist
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Rodando! / 2009 Vdeo DVD 1 Cortesa del artista
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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor It rolls! / 2009 Video DVD 1 Courtesy of the artist Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor
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UNA HIStORIA
da 26 Se acabaron las conservas. Las latas son tantas, ahora. No duermo nada desde hace das. Los ruidos de esta ruina son aterrorizantes, detesto los aullidos. No puedo dejarme vencer. Mantener el hilo. El movimiento es lo ms importante. da 15 Orden todos los cristalitos verdes all. Ahora ya no estn. Hasta la maleta que escond apareci justo en medio del camino abierta, insinuante. At los hilos en pequeos nudos. Quin jugara a estirarlos de nuevo? Este brazo no me obedece. Dorm con todo vaco, para despertarme tropezando con cualquier cosa. Mi cuerpo slo me tiene que obedecer. No sentir nada sera lo ideal. Mi presencia cuerpo-fsico subvierte el orden de todo lo que haba antes aqu. Organizo los paquetes vacos, que me sern tiles en un futuro prximo. Respirar hondo, todo el tiempo que pueda, para no sentir nada. A veces esas cosas, cohabitantes, son slo cosas, que pueden ser abandonadas en las casas, o como las casas. Otras veces son apndices de m. Manipularlas es como si me estuviera tocando. da 09 Intento acordarme de todas las cosas que ya le, de los textos que escrib. No consigo huir de ese apagn sistemtico. Hasta mis opiniones creo que se van nublando. Todos hablaban resistir, resistir!. Creo que era mucho ms sobre evitar que fuese llevado a un lugar que fuera peor, manteniendo la lucha por un i-de-al, decan. Ahora creo que slo fundando otros lugares es posible vivir. Ya no son las ideas las que nos van a sacar de aqu. Ahora son los movimientos, por menores que sean. No hay ms espacio, no propongo una nueva colonizacin, lejos de m. Estoy hablando de inventar otro, que sea aqu mismo. Nada de eso tiene garanta, pero al menos no estoy inmvil. Quedndome parada no consigo nada. Voy de aqu para all. Y resisto. PUEDEN BAJAR EL DEDO QUE ME SEALA! Esta frase suena bien. Acurdate de usarla ms adelante.
da 04 11 horas de la maana. Podra ser tambin poco despus de las doce. Cuando me despert el sol todava estaba fro, hice el trabajo de la maana y ahora hace poco, al pasar por el saln, sent las piedras crepitar de calor. Com galletas, beb el resto de la primera botella de agua. Racionalizar comida, no olvidar. Tengo que crear una metodologa un poco ms firme en el modo de vivir. Es importante no perder el control. DESCRIPCIN DEL PISO: cuatro espacios, siendo saln, cocina, habitacin y bao. La puerta de la entrada no tiene cerradura. Cuento otras siete puertas en esta planta. En la primera habitacin, hay una ventana enfrente de la puerta. En la cocina, hay una ventana sellada con tablas. La habitacin no tiene ventana. El bao tiene un proyecto de extractor. El suelo es oscuro, supongo que es de piedra, pero tiene apariencia tosca por eso digo que es piedra no pulida. La cocina debe de tener un tercio del tamao del saln. El fregadero tiene pila de aluminio, la base parece plastificada. El grifo chorrea agua fangosa. Hay caeras a la vista. No hay otras puertas. En el bao, felizmente funcionan las instalaciones hidrulicas. En el lugar de la ducha brota una tubera. No hay luz elctrica. Los cables salen de las paredes. Haba arena, grava, clavos retorcidos, restos de tablas, peridicos viejos, sobras podridas de comida, pero ya limpi todo. En caso de que me pregunten algn da, dejo aqu registrado que YO NO ESTROPE NADA. Al contrario. Levanto los brazos, no falta mucho hasta el techo. Este lugar fue hecho para que cupiera alguien como yo. Pero considerando que el espacio no me contiene nicamente a m, y que igual a este espacio que yo ahora ocupo hay veintitrs debajo mo y cuatro encima, al menos siete ms en esta misma planta, entonces yo y mi escala somos solamente uno de doscientos veinticuatro en este edificio, que es parte de un conjunto con otros siete. Alrededor cabran unos diez ms aglomerados iguales a este. Pero lo que importa es mi un doscientos veinticuatroavo, desde donde yo hablo y hacia donde lo que yo hablo se dirige.
Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo
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da 11 No hablo sobre la falta. Nada nos falta todo se excede. Slo siento no poder verme. Creo que mi cuerpo est exuberante, con un amarillo bonito. Mi pelo no se cae ms. Tomar el sol sienta muy bien. Estar as tan feliz conmigo mismo sienta muy bien. da 27 Hay heridas en los pies, hay ampollas delicadas y doloridas en la ingle y en el cuello, hay inflamacin entre las uas y los dedos de las manos. Siento escalofros breves. La fiebre espordica se ha vuelto ms frecuente. da 28 Debe de haber otras personas viviendo aqu. Otros como yo. Ayer vi bultos por las ventanas, pens que me haban encontrado. Pas una noche ms de vigilia. Traje todo para el saln, bloque el paso, dej una muda recogida en la maleta, en caso de una nueva escapada. Ahora la maana ya est casi yndose y quin quiera que est aqu no desea ser encontrado, como yo. Observ que los das sin dormir son exactamente iguales al da anterior.
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lOS tREcHOS dE UNA cONVERSAcIN

J.R: es posible decir que en tu obra, junto con un uniJlia Rebouas: sara, a primera vista, hay en tu obra un universo ldico de objetos animados, acontecimientos sorprendentes y transformaciones invisibles. no obstante, parece haber por detrs de lo que es supuestamente apacible y bien humorado una cierta perversin, revelando una naturaleza taciturna de las cosas. S.R: Los objetos son una extensin de lo humano, como Sara Ramo: El lenguaje potico puede tener diferentes estratos y tonos, matices que generan densidad y volumen. Puede ser simple y directo, al mismo tiempo tener complejidad. Existe una tensin entre sentimientos y percepciones que supuestamente estaran en polos diferentes, pero que son parte de un mismo fenmeno. Como la sutileza y la violencia, o la belleza y la perversidad que conviven y estn constantemente atrayndose la una a la otra. En la instalacin La casa de Hansel y Gretel esto aparece muy claramente. El propio cuento lidia con los sueos y fantasas de la infancia de una forma perversa. Es una historia sobre hambre y exceso, deseo y frustracin. En este proyecto, era importante para mi reflejar esta tensin. Creo que ahora, en lo que presento para el CA2M pasa un poco algo parecido, hay tensiones evidentes entre la idea de progreso y ruina, construccin y derrumbe. Cada ser humano me parece un universo muy complejo y amplio, por lo que encuentro dificultad en usar identidades particulares como material para ser expuesto. Veo la participacin (inclusive la ma) ms como una invitacin a entrar en el juego de mi trabajo, a volverse parte de un mundo que ofrezco, participar como participa cada cosa, con un cierto anonimato y al mismo tiempo con una fuerte carga simblica. S.R: De la avalancha me atrae la contundencia que arrastra consigo. Cada avalancha depende de su contexto, pero todas son violentas y excesivas. Como en el poema O Cacto, de Manuel Bandeira, o como en esta cancin de Leonard Cohen, ellas cubren el espacio y lo inundan todo. Es algo demasiado grande, desproporcional en relacin al espacio que ocupan. Las avalanchas que hago estn siempre en medio de un proceso, en un momento de precipitacin y suspensin, cargando una brutalidad que es muy eficaz, porque all el material toma una fuerza concreta inevitable. Sale de algo que me transborda, pero que al mismo tiempo intento controlar.
Jlia rebouas
J.R: esta exposicin conlleva la construccin de un aparato arquitectnico. en otros momentos de tu trabajo, cuando construcciones como esta son creadas, parece haber en ellas una orden de funcionamiento propia, como si fueran heterotopas, en el sentido de Foucault. Parece que todo all est en el ms perfecto orden, hasta que somos sorprendidos o capturados por un desvo, un acontecimiento de orden extraordinario o un modus operandi ilgico. es otro mundo, semejante, pero diferente al nuestro? S.R: En mi trabajo aparecen cuestiones que profundizan la idea de lugares para el aislamiento, lugares de suspensin, perifricos, y lugares incmodos, que acaban transformndose, como forma de resistencia, creando rdenes particulares. Para este nuevo trabajo, pens cmo el concepto de progreso gener universos propios accidentalmente, no programados, que quedaron expuestos como un sntoma. Sabemos que existen diferentes formas de heterotopa. Aqu, estoy generando un escenario, un campo donde el absurdo evidencia el fracaso del exceso. Pero tambin es un lugar improbable, porque es extrao y prximo al mismo tiempo. Cuando creamos otras formas de organizacin, con las mismas cosas existentes, parece que el mundo cambia tanto que slo puede ser otro, pero es l, solo que con su estructura alterada, con otra manera de manifestarse y funcionar.
J.R: en el rol de las imgenes elegidas para tus obras, hay una fuerte presencia de objetos. Incluso cuando encontramos personas directamente representadas, ellas parecen estar cosificadas. esta es una forma de pensar lo humano?
verso arepleto de cosas y objetos, hay tambin referencia a la soledad o al abandono? crees que esos son sntomas de nuestro tiempo, quizs consecuencias? S.R: Ambas cosas. En mi trabajo la idea de soledad convive con la idea de grupo, de elementos que se organizan y que estn tambin solos, generalmente porque estn en el campo de los restos, de lo olvidado. Quizs por esto tengan una forma particular de agruparse. Y es ah donde est su fuerza transgresora. Me fijo en lo que es limtrofe para cuestionar cosas que me parecen importantes, como si usara los residuos de las grandes cuestiones y acontecimientos. Me convierto en una especie de recolectora. J.R: hay una cancin de leonard cohen que se inicia con los versos well I stepped into an avalanche, it covered up my soul. la estructura de la avalancha aparece en diversos momentos de tu obra, cargando materiales de naturaleza y simbologa diversas. Qu te atrae en esa formacin?
un lxico que nos representa y al mismo tiempo nos revela. Hablan de las costumbres, de los afectos, de las necesidades, de los vicios, de los deseos. Nosotros nos relacionamos con el mundo a partir de ellos, y esto define tambin mucho de nuestra identidad. De cualquier forma, la cuestin de la cosificacin del ser humano es un tema complejo. Envuelve nociones de subjetividad, alteridad, nociones de libertad y de explotacin. Nuestra relacin con el mundo est impregnada por nuestra relacin con las cosas. Cosificamos la naturaleza, los animales y a nosotros mismos. Otorgo una fuerte carga simblica a los objetos porque esta es la forma que encontr para comunicarme.
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A StORy
day 26 The tinned food is all finished. There are so many tins, now. I havent slept for days. The noise in these ruins is terrifying; I hate the howls. I wont give in. Hold onto the strings. It is important to keep moving. day 15 tidied all the green crystals over there. Now theyre gone. Even the suitcase I hid, appeared right in the middle of the open pathway, tempting. I tied the strings in small knots. Who will play at stretching them out again? This arm does not do as its told. I went to sleep in an empty space and woke up tripping over all sorts of things. My body only has to obey me. Feeling nothing would be ideal. My physical bodys presence subverts the orderliness of everything that was here before. I organise the empty boxes, which will be useful in the near future. Breathe deeply, as much as I can, so as not to feel anything. Sometimes these things, cohabitants, are just things that can be abandoned in the houses, or like the houses. Other times they are appendages of me. Handling them is like touching me. day 9 try to remember all the things I have read, the texts I have written. I dont seem to be able to get away from these systematic deletions. Even my opinions seem to be fading. They all said: resist! resist! I think it was more about avoiding being taken to a worse place, keeping the fight up for an ide-al, they said. Now I believe that only by founding other places it is possible to live. The ideas are anymore the ones that are going to get us out. Now movements, no matter how subtle they are. There is no more space; I dont mean a new colonisation, far from me. Im talking about inventing another one here, just here. None of this has warranty, but at least Im not staying motionless. By standing still, I achieve nothing. I go from here to there. I resist. CAN YOU TURN THAT FINGER AWAY POINTING AT ME! That phrase sounds good. Remember to use it in the future.
day 4 11 oclock in the morning. Possibly, even a little after twelve. When I woke up the sun was still cold; I did the mornings work and a little while ago, when I went through the lounge, I felt the stones crackling from heat. I ate biscuits and drank the rest of the first bottle of water. Ration the food, dont forget it. I must design a more austere living plan. It is important not to lose control. FLAT DESCRIPTION: four spaces, which are lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. There is no lock on the front door. I count another seven doors on this floor. In the first room there is a window opposite the door. In the kitchen, the window is covered up with wooden boards. There is no window in the room. The bathroom has what could be called an extractor. The floor is dark possibly stone tiles with a rough look that is why I call it unpolished stone. The kitchen must be about a third of the size of the lounge. It has an aluminium sink on what looks like a plasticised base. The tap dribbles muddy water. The pipes are in full view. There are no other doors. In the bathroom, the hydraulic installations work, fortunately. The shower is just a spouting pipe. There is no electric light. The cables hang out from the walls. There was sand, gravel, bent nails, the remains of wooden boards, old newspapers, rotting leftover food, but I have now cleaned everything up. In case I am asked about it in the future I record here that I DID NOT BREAK ANYTHING. Quite the contrary. I lift my arms up; I can nearly touch the ceiling. This place was meant to fit someone my size. But I feel that the space does not just contain me and just like this space that I now occupy, there are twenty-three others below me and four above me, at least seven more are on this same floor; therefore, me and my scale are merely one of the two hundred and twenty-four in this building, which forms part of a set of seven more. In the surrounding area, there is room for another ten agglomerations just like this one. Nevertheless, what really matters is my two hundred and twenty-fourth part; where I speak from and where my words are target at.
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day 11 I dont talk about shortages. We lack nothing - everything is excessive. I only regret not being able to see myself. I think my body is splendid, with a pretty yellow tone. My hair doesnt fall any more. Sunbathing makes you feel good. Being so happy with myself is great. day 27 I have lesions on my feet, delicate and painful blisters in my groin and neck, swelling under my finger nails and between my fingernails. I feel short shivers. The sporadic fever is becoming more and more frequent. day 28 There must be other people living here. Others like me. Yesterday I saw shapes through the windows; I thought they had found me. I spent another night awake. I brought everything into the lounge, blocked up the doorway, left a packed change of clothes in the case, in case I had to escape again. Now the morning is almost gone and, like me, whoever happens to be here, does not want to be found, like me. I notice that the sleepless days are exactly the same as the day before.
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FRAgMENtS OF A cONVERSAtION
Jlia Rebouas: sara, at first glance, your work depicts a ludic universe of animated objects, surprising events and invisible transformations; however, behind this apparent gentleness and good humour there seems to be an underlying perversion, revealing the taciturn nature of things. Sara Ramo: Poetic discourse can have different layers, tones; darker nuances to generate volume, density. It can be simple and direct, and, at the same time, complex. There is a tension between emotions and perceptions, apparently two poles apart, yet they are part of the same phenomenon. As subtlety and violence, or beauty and perversity, which co-exist and are constantly drawn together. This can be clearly seen very in the installation La casa de Hansel y Gretel. The story itself battles perversely with childhood dreams and fantasies. It is a story about hunger and excesses, desire and frustration. It is important for me to reflect all these tensions in this project. I believe the project I show at CA2M it is bit the same; there are evident tensions between the idea of progress and ruin, building and collapse.
J.R: In the role of the images chosen for your work, there is a strong presence of objects. even when people are directly represented, they appear reified. Is this a way of thinking of humanity? S.R: Objects are an extension of humanity, as a lexicon that represents us and, at the same time, betrays us. The objects talk about customs, affection, needs, vices, desires. We relate to the world through them, and this also defines our identity. In any case, reification of the human being is a complex matter. It involves notions of subjectivity, otherness, freedom and exploration. Our relationship with the world is imbued with our relationship with things. We reify nature, animals and even ourselves. I endow objects with great symbolism because that is my way of communicating. J.R: there is a leonard cohen song that begins well On the other hand, I feel uncomfortable using peoples lives as material to be exhibited. I believe that every human being is an extremely complex and extensive universe. I see participation (even my own) more as an invitation to take part in the game that is my work, to become part of the world I offer, to participate as each thing participates, with certain anonymity, and at the same time with a great symbolic strength. S.R: Its forcefulness. Each avalanche depends on its context, but all are violent and excessive. Just as in Manuel Bandeiras poem O Cacto as in this song by Leonard Cohen, they cover the space up and they flood it. It is something that is so big, disproportionate in relation to the space. My avalanches are always in the middle of a process, at a moment of precipitation and suspension, bringing a brutality that is very efficient, because the material takes on an inevitable specific force. It comes from something that overwhelms me but, at the same time, I strive to control.
Jlia rebouas
J.R: could it be said that your work, together with dense universe of objects and things, also includes references to solitude and abandonment? do you think that these are symptoms of our times, perhaps consequences? S.R: Both. I do believe they are consequences, and also symptoms of our times. In my work the idea of solitude coexists with the idea of group, of things that organise themselves and which are also alone, generally because they are in the world of the waste, the forgotten. Perhaps this is why they have a particular way of grouping themselves. And this is where their transgressor strength lies. I focus on the boundaries in order to question things I believe important, as if using the residue of the great questions and events. This work is for a sampler.
J.R: this exhibition implies the construction of an architectural structure. In other moments of your work, when constructions such as these are created, they seem to have their own functional order, like Foucaults heterotopias. It seems that everything there is in the most perfect order, until we are surprised or captured by a deviation, an extraordinary event or an illogical modus operandi. Is this another world, similar, but different to ours? S.R: In my work there are questions that delve into the idea of places for isolation, places for suspension, peripheral and uncomfortable, which finally undergo transformation, as a form of resistance, creating their own order. For this new work I considered how the concept of progress accidentally generated specific universes, not programmed and which were displayed as a symptom. We know that there are different forms of heterotopias. Here I am creating a scene, a venue where the absurd brings into light the failures of excess. However, it is also an improbable place, strange and familiar at the same time. When creating other forms of organisation using the same existing things, it seems like the world changes that much that it can only be another one, but it is the same world, barely modified.
I stepped into an avalanche, it covered up my soul. the structure of the avalanche appears in different moments of your work, carrying materials from nature and diverse symbolism. what is it about this formation that attracts you?
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Sin herosmos, por favor Quase Cheio, Quase Vazio, Casi lleno casi vaco / 2008 Vdeo Digital HD, Doble proyeccin 524 Cortesa de la artista y de la Galera Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Almost full, all most empty / 2008 HD Digital Video Double projection 524 Courtesy of the artist and Fortes Vilaa, Gallery So Paulo
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Hansel and Gretels house La casa de Hansel y Gretel / 2009 Instalacin (casa abandonada, vdeo, monitor, sillas, caramelos, horno, piedras, collage). 53 Bienal de Venecia Cortesa de la artista
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Hansel and Gretels house / 2009 Installation (abandoned house, video, monitor, chairs, candies, oven, stones, collage) 53th Venice Biennale Courtesy of the artist
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En passant De paso/ 2009 Foto proyeccin Cortesa de la artista, Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo y Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo The passage /2009 Foto projection Courtesy of the artist, Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo and Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona
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Avalanche concreta Avalancha concreta/ 2010 Instalacin puerta y cajas Cortesa de la artista y la Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Concret Avlanache / 2010 Installation door and boxes Courtesy of the artist and Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona
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Translado Traslado/ 2008 Vdeo digital, 7 46 Cortesa de la artista y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Transfer / 2008 Digital video, 7 46 Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, Sao Paulo
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Cmo aprender o que acontece na normalidade das coisas Cmo aprender lo que ocurre en la normalidad de las cosas / 2002/2005 Fotografa (dpticos) 53 x 75 cm. c/u Cortesa de la artista y de la Coleccin de Arte Inhotim, Brasil
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo How to learn what happened in the natural order of things / 2002 / 2005 Photography (diptych) 50 x 70 cm. (each) Courtesy of the artist and Inhotims Art Collection, Brasil
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Oceano Possivel Ocano posible/ 2002 Vdeo DV 3 54 Cortesa de la artista y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Possible Ocean / 2002 Video DV 3 54 Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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O jardim das coisas do soto El jardn de las cosas del desvn/ 2004 Instalacin Cortesa de la artista
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo The garden of things from the attic / 2004 Installation Courtesy of the artist
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Bem-vindo Bienvenido / 2008 Vdeo digital HD 4 Cortesa de la artista y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Wellcome / 2008 Digital video HD 4 Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Uma e outra vez l, mesmo que aqu (da srie mapas) Una y otra vez lo mismo que aqu (de la serie Mapas) / 2005 Instalacin (pared, escalera, espejo y objetos encontrados en la calle) Cortesa de la artista y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Once and again, the same that here (Maps series) Installation (wall, stairs, mirror, objects collected in the street) Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo A few days spend in the space / 2005 Poliptyc photographies. 40x 50 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Invasao ou tudo o que ficou contido Invasin o todo lo que estaba contenido/ 2005 Fotografa. 82 x 108 cm. Cortesa de la artista y Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Invasion or everything that was restrained / 2005 Photography. 82 x 108 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona
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Tempo de Avalanche Tiempo de Avalancha/ 2005 Instalacin (piedra de cantera y calendario) Cortesa de la artista
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Avalanche Time / 2005 Installation (stone quarry and calendar) Courtesy of the artist
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Calendar Calendario/ 2011 12 Collages. 57 x 38 cm. (c/u) Cortesa de la artista y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Calendar / 2011 12 Collages. 57 x 38 cm. (each) Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Fissura (da srie mapas) Fisura (de la serie mapas) / 2011 Instalacin (paredes, espejo, ladrillos, cemento, restos, material de construccin, ropa, confeti y objetos diversos) Cortesa de la artista y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Crack (maps series) / 2011 Installation (walls, mirrors, bricks, cement, constructions materials, rope, wrapped paper, confetti, and several objects) Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo
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A banda dos Sete La banda de los siete / 2010 Vdeo HD 20 35 Cortesa de la artista, Galera Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona y Galeria Fortes Vilaa, So Paulo. Subvencionado por la Fundacin Herms
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo The band of seven / 2010 Video HD 20 35 Courtesy of the artist, Galleria Fortes Vilaa, Sao Paulo and Galleria Estrany de la Mota, Barcelona. Produce by the Herms Foundation
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As como vino, 1. Contrato, 2. Acuerdo, 3. Islas / 2012 Instalacin (objetos) Cortesa de la artista
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo 1 3 2 Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo As it came, 1. Contract, 2. Agreement, 3. Islands / 2012 Installation (objects) Courtesy of the artist
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As como vino, 4. legado / 2012 Boceto y fragmento de la maqueta (obra en proceso) Cortesa de la artista
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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo As it came, 4. Legacy / 2012 Installation, Sketch and fragment of the model (work in progress) Courtesy of the artist Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo
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gEOgRAFA dE lA lENgUA
Gracias al seor y la seora Bernard shaw por sus incontables sugerencias de gran valor y diversidad y por todos los puntos y aparte presentes.
T.E. Lawrence, Los siete pilares de la sabidura
Cmo describirla? Es una casa de estilo victoriano. Si esto quiere decir algo Victoria rein durante ms de seis dcadas, demasiado tiempo para que las modas e incluso los modos no cambiasen y no nos referirnos simplemente a la tpica casa britnica que todos tenemos en mente; podra concretarse an ms, decir que es una tpica casa londinense, en Belgravia, Mayfair o Chelsea, los barrios elegantes, de esas en las que, sean de cuando sean, fuesen construidas en poca de Jorge, Victoria o Eduardo, siempre se respira un cierto aire aejo, el del aliento de los que all viven, cansados de tanto subir y bajar, de ir arriba y abajo, o el de los vapores del cognac, el jerez y el oporto que suponemos en licoreras de cristal tallado sobre una mesa antigua de caoba en algn lugar privilegiado de la estancia principal. Como en casi todos esos edificios, concebidos en altura y no en planta, la entrada no es muy grande y se abre a unas escaleras, ms estrechas que anchas, que dan acceso a los dormitorios y los baos de los pisos superiores; en el primero y segundo, los del seor y los de invitados, y en los ltimos, los del servicio; las habitaciones de lo privado, aquellas que no se suelen mostrar y que aqu apenas se ven, podran incluso haberse evitado, como ocurre en las obras de teatro, que pertenecen a ese gnero que se ha dado en llamar comedia de saln burgus, se debera aadir, en el que lo cmico viene dado por el ingenio de los dilogos, lo que los ingleses llaman wit, ms que por las situaciones, a pesar del abanico, metonimia del honor, perdido por alguna lady.
Una de las puertas del hall decorada con una pequea cristalera que podra haber firmado Louis Comfort Tiffany, hijo del fundador de la joyera que ms tarde se hizo famosa por sus desayunos con diamantes, da acceso a una minscula sala, con algo de armario-ropero, por el lugar que ocupa, y bastante de consulta de dentista. Sobre las paredes cuelgan dibujos del interior de la boca y de la garganta y fotografas en blanco y negro de personas que hacen muecas. Hay, adems, un lavabo para enjuagarse o limpiar el instrumental y, en las estantera, modelos anatmicos del cuello y de la cabeza. El gabinete est ocupado por un aparato extrao que tiene aspecto de polgrafo primitivo, de arcaica mquina de la verdad o, mejor, de sofisticadsimo y claustrofbico instrumento de tortura, que no lo es en verdad, como sucede con muchos equipos de laboratorio. Es una silla sin apenas respaldo en la que se ha encajado una estructura metlica que aprisiona el torso de la mujer que est all sentada y lo conecta, mediante dos cables, a un mecanismo que va dibujando sobre un rollo de papel una grfica que refleja la correccin de su /e/ cuando se compara con otra, la de control, que se expone al lado y que, sin duda, ha sido establecida a partir del /e/ del profesor que, imaginamos, estudi en Eton y se licenci en algn college de Oxford.
Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor
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/a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a/. No lo logra. No termina
El profesor Higgins tampoco la deja renunciar. Ha apostado fuerte, mucho, demasiado. No le importa tanto el dinero como su reputacin de fonetista. Ha desafiado a su amigo, el coronel Pickering, a que es capaz de cambiar en menos de seis meses a Eliza Doolitle, la violetera, en Ms. Doolitle, la professional beauty, imprescindible en cualquier reunin aristocrtica que se precie. Es su oficio, no slo estudia acentos sino que colabora a modificarlos para ascender socialmente, y ella, sin saberlo, supone un gran reto, el mayor de su carrera. Suea con hacer carne viva del fro mrmol y ser Pigmalin, o as se titula, con el nombre de un personaje de las Metamorfosis de Ovidio, la obra de teatro en la que se basa el musical de Broadway que se adapt al cine en esa pelcula de 1964. Una metamorfosis moderna, no la de Galatea, sino la de Eliza Doolitle, que no termina como caba esperar, al menos en la original, si es que alguna puede considerarse como tal y no son todas el mismo relato en escenarios distintos. No hay final feliz. El profesor no se queda ni con Eliza, ni con Ms. Doolitle. Ella se escapa para vivir su propia vida. Esa historia de amor que es puro narcisismo, otra metamorfosis, implcita en el ttulo del original, si es que lo es, no termina bien. De hecho, nunca debera haber terminado bien, ni en Grecia, ni en Roma, ni en Londres, ni en Broadway, ni en Hollywood. Sin embargo, adems de ocuparse del problema de la mujer, como algunos lo calificaron sin entender de quin era en verdad el problema, una de las intenciones fundamentales de George Bernard Shaw, cuando en 1912 escribi Pigmalin, era defender el establecimiento de una norma fontica en ingls, un idioma que se pronuncia distinto, muy distinto, a como se escribe y que generaba desigualdades porque muchos no recordaban eso que poco ms tarde se llam RP, Received Pronuntiation, la de una clase muy concreta, los oxonianos y los reyes, Jorge, Victoria, Eduardo e Isabel. Puede que a Bernard Shaw no le preocupasen las desigualdades, o no tanto, sino lo que l consideraba la pureza del ingls, en esto era un conservador, pero Higgins con su capacidad para distinguir procedencias y orgenes segn los acentos hace evidente algo que se suele
de coincidir. /a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a/. Repite, repite y repite, angustiada, pero los dibujos no se igualan, ni siquiera se aproximan. No comprende la diferencia. A ella le suena igual, aunque debe ser diferente, la mquina no miente. /aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa/. No es capaz de pronunciar el /e/ que al pasar de su cerebro a las cuerdas vocales se convierte en una queja, /a/. Ay, ay,
ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. Una queja que se hace tedio-
sa para ella misma, est cansada, y para el profesor que la escucha desde la habitacin contigua, mucho mayor, que sirve de despacho, biblioteca y sala de estar, ese escenario donde todo ocurre en las comedias de saln burgus, se debera aadir. Eliza tiene que lograr pronunciar / ren
n spen stes menl n plen/ sin que se note su acento
cockney del East End, esa forma particular de pronunciar que la delata, que seala, como si fuera un ndice acusador y maleducado, sus orgenes. / ran n span stas manl
n plan/. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. Repetir, imitar y copiar
como proceso educativo, como modo de formarse, de dar y darse forma, a pesar de que seamos los nicos que tropezamos dos veces en la misma piedra. Tampoco parece que sea el mejor sistema, est destinado a lo aproximado, a la inexactitud, al fallo, al error, aunque de ste tambin se aprende, nos dicen, y se aprende porque es interpretacin. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. / ran n
span stas manl n plan/. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. No puede hacerlo. No entiende en qu se dis-
tinguen /e/ y /a/. Piensa en abandonar. Echa de menos la calle. Desea volver a ella y seguir vendiendo ramilletes de flores. /aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa,
aaa/. Quiere olvidar sus ambiciones, son suyas o le han
sido impuestas?, de transformarse en una elegante dama en blanco y negro que frecuenta el hipdromo y es invitada por el embajador de Transilvania al baile que dan en honor de su reina. Sin embargo, su orgullo no se lo permite. Aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaay, aaaay, aaaay,
aaaay, aaaay, se lamenta.
Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor
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pasar por alto en ocasiones y es lo que de mapa tiene la lengua, las fronteras que marca, los mrgenes que impone, y que no son slo los del territorio, esos que han provocado tantas guerras, sino muchos otros ms velados, ms sutiles, pero igual de limitadores, coartadores, y represivos. Unas barreras difciles de saltar porque significa borrar los orgenes, esos orgenes de los que Eliza pretende librarse repitiendo, imitando y copiando; al menos es de lo que la han convencido, que debe renunciar a la lengua materna o paterna, porque es la figura del padre la que aparece en escena y aprender otra nueva que le resulta ajena, aunque al final toma otra decisin y, a pesar de que habla de un modo distinto ya pronuncia el /e/ y puede mantener una conversacin con una duquesa y un marqus o un lord y una lady sobre la lluvia en Sevilla y en la meseta espaola sin ruborizarse, si es que antes se avergonzaba de algo, concluye que su destino no estaba escrito en ese rollo de papel que serva de control en la mquina, ni tampoco en su partida de nacimiento y resuelve no ocultar de dnde procede recuperando lo que por un poco haba perdido. Recuperar los orgenes es lo que Teresa Solar Abboud, o
T.S. Abboud, como se la llama en algn lugar subrayando ese apellido materno que resulta extico y habla de la prdida, intenta hacer: copiando, imitando, repitiendo. Igual que hizo otro personaje, por lo que tiene de ficcin, que pareca destinado o predestinado, segn cuentan, y l mismo cuenta, a vivir una saga pica de guerra de guerrillas, reconquista del terreno que otros haban ganado y travesas maratonianas por el desierto. T.E. Lawrence, Thomas Edward Lawrence, ms conocido como Lawrence de Arabia (1888-1935), hroe de una pelcula un biopic casi contempornea, dos aos anterior, a My Fair Lady, y actor en un espectculo de variedades orientalista que triunf en los escenarios del Londres de despus de la Gran Guerra donde se interpretaba en todos sus sentidos a s mismo; protagonista de unas memorias, Los siete pilares de la sabidura, una novela donde de ancdota tiene los hechos histricos que relatan y que Bernard Shaw le corrigi ayudndole a puntuar con correccin, a situar las pausas y poner el acento en el lugar adecuado, colaborando en su construccin como ser mtico, participando en la transformacin de Pigmalin en Galatea, del profesor Higgings en Ms. Doolitle. Un hroe de pelcula, un actor de teatro, el protagonista de una novela, no la persona histrica, que T.S. Abboud copia, imita, y repite, rehaciendo las tomas, reelaborando los escenarios, repitiendo las escenas de su vida, pero mostrando la tramoya, lo que se esconda, y dejando a la vista lo que de error, fallo, inexactitud, aproximacin tiene ese sistema. Errar, fallar, ser inexacto, aproximarse, todo aquello que no hara un hroe, como forma de recuperar lo perdido, quizs.
sergio rubira
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gEOgRAPHy OF lANgUAgE
thanks to mr. and mrs. Bernard shaw for countless suggestions of great value and diversity: and for all the present semicolons
T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
How to describe it? It is a Victorian home, if that means anythingVictoria reigned for over six decades, too long a time for fashions and even forms to remain unchanged and we are not simply referring to what we all think of as a typical British house; to be more specific, we might say that it is a typical London home of the kind found in the elegant neighbourhoods of Belgravia, Mayfair or Chelsea, the type of home where, regardless of whether it was built in the time of George, Victoria or Edward, the air always seems heavy with the scent of age, with the breath of those who live there, weary of so many journeys up and down stairs, of climbing and descending, or with the vapours of the brandy, sherry and port we imagine stored in cut glass decanters atop an old mahogany table in some prominent place in the drawing room. Like nearly all such buildings, designed vertically rather than horizontally, the entrance is not very large and opens onto a flight of stairs, more narrow than wide, which lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms on the upper storeys: those reserved for the master and his guests on the first and second floors, and the servants quarters at the top of the house. These are the private rooms, the areas that are rarely shown and here are barely visible; in fact, they could have been omitted altogether, as occurs in plays pertaining to the genre known as the comedy of mannersbourgeois manners, to be more precisewhere the humour is supplied by witty dialogues rather than situations, despite the ubiquitous fan, that metonym of honour, lost by some lady.
One of the doors in the hall set with a small pane of glass that could have been designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder of the jewellery firm that would later become famous for its breakfasts, opens onto a tiny room which might be mistaken for a walk-in closet, given its location, but is actually more reminiscent of a dentists office. The walls are hung with drawings of the inside of the human mouth and throat and black-and-white photographs of people pulling faces, and there is a washbasin for rinsing or cleaning instruments and anatomical models of the neck and head on a shelf. The office is occupied by an odd device resembling a primitive polygraph, an antiquated truth machine or, better yet, a highly sophisticated, claustrophobic instrument of torturewhich might actually be the case, as is true of many pieces of laboratory equipment. It is an almost backless chair fitted with a metal structure that holds the torso of the woman seated in it like a vice, connected by two wires to an apparatus that is plotting a graph on a roll of paper to measure the accuracy of her /e/ in comparison to another graph, the control sample, displayed alongside the first and undoubtedly based on the /e/ of the professor who, we suppose, studied at Eton and graduated from some Oxford college.
Teresa Sin herosmos, Ramo Abboud por favor
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/a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a/. She cannot manage it. She
Nor is Professor Higgins willing to let her quit. The stakes are too high, he has wagered too much on her success. His primary concern is not the money but his reputation as a phonetics professor. Higgins has made a bet with his friend, Colonel Pickering, that in less than six months he can transform Eliza Doolittle the violet peddler into Ms. Doolittle the professional beauty, an essential at any aristocratic gathering worth its salt. This is his profession; in addition to studying accents, he also helps people modify their speech so they can climb the social ladder, and Eliza, though she does not know it, represents a splendid challenge, the greatest of his career. He dreams of transforming the cold marble into living flesh and of being Pygmalion, the title named after a character in Ovids Metamorphosesof the play that inspired the Broadway musical later adapted for the screen as the 1964 film My Fair Lady. This modern metamorphosis, not of Galatea but of Eliza Doolittle, does not turn out as one might expect, at least in the original versionassuming that an original actually exists and that the different versions are not just the same story set on different stages. There is no happy ending. The professor does not end up with either Eliza or Ms. Doolittle. She runs away to live her own life. That love story which is actually a tale of pure narcissism, another metamorphosis, as the title of the original (if it is the original) implies, does not end well. In fact, it never should have ended well, whether in Greece, Rome, London, Broadway or Hollywood. However, in addition to addressing the womans problem, as some called it in their ignorance of whose problem really was, one of George Bernard Shaws primary intentions when he wrote Pygmalion in 1912 was to defend the creation of a phonetic standard for the English language, which is pronounced very differently from how it is written and generated social inequality because many could not retain what would soon become known as RP or Received Pronunciation, the accent of a very specific class, of Oxonians and monarchs, of George, Victoria, Edward and Elizabeth.
just cant make the proper sound. /a, a, a, a, a, a, a,

a, a, a/. She repeats it over and over and over again, her
distress mounting, but the plotted lines show no change; in fact, they arent even closer. They sound the same to her, although they should be different, for the machine doesnt lie. /aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa, aa/. She is incapable of pronouncing the /e/ which on the journey from her brain to her vocal chords becomes a wailing sound, /
a/. Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay. The wail becomes
tedious even to her own ears as she grows tired, and to the professor who is listening from the much larger adjoining room which serves as the study, library and sitting room, the setting where all the action takes place in a typical (bourgeois) comedy of manners. Eliza must learn to pronounce
/ ren n spen stes menl n plen/ without a hint of
her East End Cockney accent, that particular form of speech that betrays her, that points to her lowly origin like a rude accusing finger. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. /
ran n span stas manl n plan/. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. Repeating, imitating and copying as a
learning process, as a way of educating oneself, of shaping and taking shape, though we are the only ones who stumble twice against the same stone. This doesnt really seem to be the best system, for it invariably leads to approximation, inaccuracy, failure and mistakes, although we learn even from those, so they say, and we learn because it is acting.
/ ran n span stas manl n plan/. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. / ran n span stas manl n plan/. She cant do it. She doesnt understand the diffe-
rence between /e/ and /a/. She contemplates quitting. She misses her old life on the street. She wants to go back and sell bunches of flowers like before. /aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa,
aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa, aaa/. She wants to forget her
ambitionhers or that of another for her?of becoming an elegant lady dressed in black and white who frequents the racetrack and is invited by the Transylvanian ambassador to the ball organised to honour his queen. But she is too proud to admit defeat. Aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaay,
aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, aaaay, she wails.
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Shaw may have been more concerned about what he considered the purity of the English language than about social inequalityin that respect, he was a conservativebut Higgins, with his talent for pinpointing peoples places of origin and roots based on their accents, shines the spotlight on something that tends to be overlooked: the map-like quality of language, the borders it establishes, the margins it imposes, and not just those of a territorial nature, the kind that have triggered so many wars, but many othersmore unobtrusive, more subtle, yet just as restrictive, confining and repressive. Crossing these barriers is difficult because it entails erasing ones roots, the same roots that Eliza hopes to sever by repeating, imitating and copying; at least that is what she has been convinced is necessary, that she must renounce her mother tongueor father tongue, as we only see the father figure on this particular stageand learn a new language that is entirely foreign to her. Yet in the end she changes her mind, and even though she has learned to speak differentlyshe can finally pronounce the /e/ and hold a conversation with a duchess and a marquis or a lord and lady about the rain in Spain staying mainly in the plain without blushing, if in fact she had anything to feel ashamed of beforeshe concludes that her destiny is not dictated by the plotted lines on that roll of paper spewed out by the professors machine nor by her birth certificate, and she decides not to hide her origin, thereby recovering what she had lost for a little while.
Recovering roots is precisely what Teresa Solar Abboud or T. S. Abboud, as she has occasionally been called, underscoring that maternal surname with its connotations of exoticism and lossattempts to do by copying, imitating and repeating. Just like another character, with its fiction ingredient,) did in the past, a character that seemed destined or predestined, according to him and to others, to live an epic saga of guerrilla warfare, campaigns to reclaim terrain that others had won and impressive desert crossings. This character is T. E. Lawrence, Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia (1888-1935): hero of a contemporary filma biopicreleased just two years prior to My Fair Lady, actor in an Orientalist variety show that enjoyed great success on the London stage after the Great War in which he playedin every sense of the wordhimself; protagonist of his own memoirs, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, more novel than biography given the anecdotal quality of the historical events he recounts, which Shaw edited, helping Lawrence to make correct use of punctuation, position narrative breaks and add emphasis where needed, thereby contributing to the construction of his legend, participating in the transformation of Pygmalion into Galatea, of Professor Higgins into Ms. Doolittle. It is the silver-screen hero, theatre actor and protagonist of a novel and not the historical figure, that T. S. Abboud copies, imitates and repeats, reshooting the takes, recreating the sets, repeating the scenes of his life, but she insists upon showing the backstage mechanisms, that which was once hidden, and exposing the errors, flaws, inaccuracies and approximations inherent to that system. Erring, failing, being inaccurate, coming close, everything that a hero would not make is embraced as a way of recovering what has been lostperhaps.
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Sin herosmos, por favor You have been tracking us / 2009 Vdeo HD. 2 30 Cortesa de la artista Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor You have been tracking us / 2009 HD Video. 2 30 Courtesy of the artist
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Alguna cosa desconocida pero que sigue razonando / 2012 Instalacin. Medidas variables. (Fotografa Luis Asn) Cortesa de la artista y Galera Formato Cmodo, Madrid
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Something unknown, but still, thoughtful / 2012 Instalation. Variable sizes. (Photographer by Luis Asn) Courtesy of the artist and Galera Formato Cmodo, Madrid
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El llano mltiple / 2012 Serie fotogrfica. Impresin digital Handmlhe Cortesa de la artista y Galera Formato Cmodo, Madrid
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Multiple Plain / 2012 Photographic series. Digital impression Handmlhe. Courtesy of the artist and Galera Formato Cmodo, Madrid
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Los embajadores / 2010 Vdeo HD. 6 35 Cortesa de la artista
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor The ambassadors / 2010 HD Video. 6 45 Courtesy of the artist
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Los embajadores / 2010 Vdeo HD. 6 35 Cortesa de la artista
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor The ambassadors / 2010 HD Video. 6 45 Courtesy of the artist
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You have been tracking us / 2009 Vdeo HD. 2 30 Cortesa del artista
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor You have been tracking us / 2009 HD Video. 2 30 Courtesy of the artist
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Provincia reserva / 2009 Impresin Lambda. Medidas variables Cortesa de la artista
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Reserve State / 2009 Lambda impression. Variable dimensions Courtesy of the artist
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Puerta Zhengyangmen / 2010 Serie de cuatro fotografas. Impresin lambada. 50 x 30 cm. (c/u) Cortesa de la artista
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Sin herosmos, por favor Sin herosmos, por favor Zhengyangmen door / 2010 Series of four photographs. Lambda impression. 50 x 30cm. (each) Courtesy of the artist
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Las cosas que no estn / 2012 En proceso. Vdeo HD. 20 aprox. Cortesa de la artista
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor All the things that are not there / 2012 In process. HD Video. 20 approx. Courtesy of the artist
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Las cosas que no estn / 2012 En proceso. Collage sobre archivo digital Cortesa de la artista
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Sin Teresa herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor Teresa Sin herosmos, Solar Abboud por favor All the things that are not there / 2012 In process. Collage on digital archive Courtesy of the artist
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tRANSlAcIN
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INtROdUctION
traslacin (translation1) (From translacin) 1. noun The action and effect of transferring someone or something from one place to another. 2. noun The process of translating words or text into another language. 3. noun [ .] Constructive device that consists in using
In the twenty-third edition of the DICTIONARY OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE issued by the Royal Spanish Academy or R.A.E. (due to be released in 2014 when the Academy celebrates its third centenary), the entry for the word traslacin (translation) will be modified. Specifically, it will no longer include the expression translation of light, defined as The process by which one planet transfers its light to another, particularly when a third, faster-travelling planet is passing between them. The astrological context indicated by the abbreviation is unusual and seems to be the primary reason for the amendment. However, the dictionary does include ~ motion as a set phrase under the entry for movimiento (motion) which refers to the motion of heavenly bodies along their orbits. Given the authors constant references to the ambiguity of this term, we deemed it advisable to provide a transcript of the existing entry, written by Manuel Alvar Lpez, rather than the future amended version proposed by Arturo Prez-Reverte, the Academy fellow currently in charge of the letter T.
a verb tense to convey something other than its natural meaning; for example, would love rather than had loved, or tomorrow is rather than tomorrow will be Sunday. 4. noun [Rhet.] metaphor 5. noun, rare The action of transferring a person from one position to another of similar characteristics. 6. noun, rare The action of rescheduling an event for another date. ~ of light. 1. noun [Astr.] The process by which one planet transfers its light to another, particularly when a third, fastertravelling planet is passing between them. See also motion [translation motion]
1 english translators note: the spanish word traslacin has a number of meanings that do not correspond to the accepted definitions for the english word translation and might be more accurately rendered as motion, enallage, movement, transfer, etc. the entries listed here are literal Sin herosmos, por favor Sin herosmos, translations of the definitions provided in the spanish-language dictionary mentioned above. por favor
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tHE ScIENcE OF tRANSlAcIN
This study of the science of translacin, or irregular translation, is based on the concrete experience of rewriting phrase by phrase the underlined sections in a photocopy of T. E. Lawrences essay Guerrilla. This bibliographic reference in turn gains value from the fact that the writing of the present text was guided by the practical application of the theories here set forth. The theory of irregular translation was first posited in January 2012 with an attack by my inexperienced self upon Lawrences text. This was a premeditatedly unsuccessful attempt designed to expose my weaknesses and take myself out of range of criticism in order to subsequently blockade them. Generally speaking, a good translation is one that gives precedence to concepts rather than grammatical literality. The skilled translator must be attuned to that which is intuited between languages, not merely what he is capable of identifying as the semantic core. As a practice that prioritises form over content, literality is irrelevant when attempting to convey the texts true meaning in the target language.
In the emergency of writing this text, it occurred to this author that perhaps the virtue of irregular translation lay in the structural surface of a text, not in its depth, and that by encircling semes in an irregular way we might speak using only taxemes,2 translate a text without changing languages, or coherently narrate the written word.
1. according to the american philologist and linguist leonard Bloomfield, the taxeme is a simple feature of grammatical arrangement. lzaro carreter, Sin herosmos, por favor Sin herosmos, Fernando (1980). diccionario de trminos filolgicos. madrid: Gredos. p. 388. por favor
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This eccentric movement acts like a charm. The translator focuses solely on form, and his constantly shifting interests put the reader (who was on the verge of understanding something) on his guard and prompt him to recall his suspicion. There, one half of the reader takes up an entrenched position about the initial confession and attempts to figure out which syntagmas pertain to the original text, a position he will hold until after he has finished reading. The other half is distributed along the following pages to identify the threat of intruder passages. The text books define translation as the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text.3 Meaning can only be purchased by meaning. This is a hard saying, as Teresa Solar Abboud produces meaning from unintelligible murmurs, the formal repetition of cinematographic shots and the whimsical rewriting of a script. Like irregular translation, she takes the exact literal and visual replica of a text and uses it to invent blocks of meaning, and that replica in turn clouds and blurs the common denominator that links the two languages. Lovers of description are welcome to the subtitles of what is left of the original, till peace or doomsday shows them the futility of waiting around for an explanation. If they want information and want to hold on to it, then let them.
Re-appropriation Reading
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/translation [retrieved on 06-02-2012]Sin herosmos, por favor
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T. S. Abbouds aim is unmistakably geographical: to occupy the territory of a mother tongue that is foreign to her. 4 In the doing of it, she may have had to relinquish the original meaning, yet killing meaning never seems to be her excuse or aim. In irregular translation, if the goal of preserving the original meaning is taken off the map, the meaning still remains. Internalising the meaning of Lawrence of Arabias footage requires the translator to betray the guilds semantic function and translate/transfer only the visual structure, materialising the concepts in practice rather than conveying them in spirit.
Translated into Arabic, the economic factor demands an inverse estimation of the area to be conquered. A casual calculation indicates that there are 6,909 languages in the world.5 How does a translator deal with them? No doubt by designing a trench line of so many cents per word, despite the knowledge that his task is to ignore them individually and group them into regular armies of imported concepts. T. S. Abboud, on the other hand, treats them like a timeless influence, a thing invulnerable, intangible, without front or back, a multiple language that drifts about like a gas, an infinite tongue. From this perspective, translations are more like plants, immobile as a whole, firm-rooted, and nourished through long stems to the source text. Translation is like a vapour blown by the wind. Its kingdoms live in the imagination of each individual, and as there is no concrete method of subsistence, the enemy is not offered a concrete target.
4. the total number of languages is generally considered to be between 6,000 and 6,500. In its 2009 statistical summaries, the publication ethnologue states that there are approximately 6,909 languages in the world. http://www.ethnologue.org/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=size Sin herosmos, 3. translators note: although arabic is teresa solar abbouds mother tongue, she cannot read or write in this language. por favor [retrieved on 12-01-2012] Sin herosmos, por favor
the conscious Metaphor
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In these times, film metaphors cannot be cautious. Shots, being irregular, do not act in sequence but as individual units. The loss of that formal coherence is like a pebble dropped in water; the break in continuity may be brief, but rings of crisis widen out from it. The filmic paintings of T. S. Abboud can afford such casualties. They seek out those fluctuations between copying and obviating by constructing a self-referencing biographical subplot. In this way, the material issue is easier to deal with. Essentially, the staging must be superior to the filming. Abboud thus lays down the maxim, applying it to irregular translation, that the stage of the content is the content itself, thereby allowing her metaphors to take the supporting structures and improvise meanings, composing autonomous, non-sequential shots. Most translations are achieved by detachment; the two parts, syntax and semantics, are dissociated in order to convey the message in a way that is comprehensible and adapted to the grammar of the target language. But metaphor entails a translation of contact: to liberate the reader by the silent threat of a vast imposture, which rudely reveals itself time after time in the awkward collage of the shots that are also phrases.
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If the aim is to link one sentence with another, nonunderlined sections are chosen. This is a syntactic success.6 From this theory, T. S. Abboud ultimately develops a conscious habit of always maintaining physical contact with the narrative she is studying; this chimes with the plea of never translating with meaning, but rather transferring meaning to the act of translation itself.7 Irregular translation seldom concerns itself with what the men who read it do, but much with what they think, and the diathetic8 is a crucial part of its mission. In translation this issue is set a little aside and the task of creating opinion by study and criticism is entrusted to agents with no connection to the text, but irregular translation is so weak conceptually that it cannot let Irregular translation to the Self meta-referentiality rust unused.
5 note that in lawrences original essay, the word used here is tactical. the word tactical comes from the verb tangere, tango, tactus, meaning to touch. 7. the term diathesis comes from the Greek (diathesis) and means disposition or tendency. In spanish [and in english] it refers to the voice of a verb (active, passive), as well as the predisposition of an organism to contract a disease. the second definition ties in with its philosophical meaning, for
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translators note: In this sentence, the author originally used the term trasladar where transferring and translation appear in the english text, in
diathetic totalities are those which communicate with one of their parts through other parts on the same holistic level. For example, Plotinuss genera are diathetic because they establish a link to the species through other species of the genus. http://symploke.trujaman.org/index.php?title=ditesis_/_totalidades_diatticas_/_totalidades_adiatticas [retrieved on 12-01-2012]
reference to the grammatical sense of the spanish word as it appears in the academy dictionarys third definition of traslacin, which readers will find in the introduction to this text. however, two different terms have been used in the english translation to improve the phrases symmetrical syntax and clarify the idea that the author is trying to convey.
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Planet Earth does not follow all these arguments, but it gives itself leave for their practical application to be tried. Accordingly, the Earth rotates around itself, performing this feat with ease. Then the orbit easily fixates on the Sun as the centre of gravitation, and finally the Sun also moves, turning all the preceding motions into curved loops. The process sets up a sidereal ladder, which has provided a cosmic time frame for the planets inhabitants, from the equinoctial seasons (spring, autumn) to the solstitial seasons. These seasons are sometimes 212 million kilometres away, a short distance in the immensity of outer space, but made longer by the Earths translation motion thanks to its assiduous cultivation of the Suns light and thermodynamic harnessing of its elliptic, taking advantage of the fact that curved geography it is a faster body.
Repetition and Verbal tenses In character these cosmic operations are closely related to the grammatical 9 translation of T. S. Abboud,in
here the word traslacin is used in the sense of the third definition provided in the r.a.e. dictionary; the english equivalent of this grammatical
device is enallage.
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her autonomy, her independent paths, the verb as the centre of the orbit, her ignoring of (and illiteracy in) the basic rules of her language, her science, her translations. He who commands form is at great liberty, and may take as much or as little of it as he will: he who commands translation/enallage is equally fortunate. Verb parties, self-contained like planets, can orbit securely along the time-frontier, just out of semantic sight, and raid the past whenever it seems fittest or easiest or most profitable, with a sure retreat always behind them into the copy as their origin. Discrimination of what point of the historical organism Solar Abboud intends to disarrange comes with practice. Her tactics are always touch and copy, not plan and create. Irregular translation never tries to evaluate or assess its meaning, but to move off and repeat the form somewhere else. It uses the same force in the same time at the closest place.
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tRANSlAtORS NOtE
In order to produce TRANSLACIN (Translation), Carlos Fernndez-Pello rewrote several excerpts from T. E. Lawrences Guerilla in English, making a variety of changes to the original text. The concepts presented by the Spanish author in the excerpts found in both works are, logically, dissimilar or very different, but the presentation of the text is identical in both cases. For this reason, readers who compare the original version of the quotes from Guerrilla with the quotes and corresponding paragraphs of TRANSLACIN in the Spanish translation we are now presenting will find a number of similarities, which can be chalked up to both the translators personal whims and the variations in the original formal structure introduced by Fernndez-Pello himself.
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IVN ARgOtE (IVN ASSAd ARgOtE cAldERN)

Bogot, Colombia 1983 Vive y trabaja en Pars, Francia Ha estudiado Diseo Grfico en la Universidad Nacional de Bogot (2000-2005), y de Bellas Artes en la ENSBA Pars (2006-2009). Algunas de sus exposiciones recientes: Rising Action, (en colaboracin con Pauline Bastard), Nettie Horn Gallery, Londres, Reino Unido (2012); Born to Curate, performance, Toyben Studios, Londres, Reino Unido (2012) ; The Dialectic City, Laboratorio de Artes Binarios, Puerto Rico (2011); WE ARE, (muestra individual) Nurture Art, Brooklyn, N.Y, EEUU (2011); Vista Socrates Sculpture Park, N.Y, EEUU (2011); Caliente, (muestra individual) Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Pars, Francia (2011); A brake to dance, (muestra individual), Galerie Valenzuela & Klenner, Bogot, Colombia, (2009); Zapping Unit, MAC/VAL Museum of Contemporary Art of Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, Francia, (2009). En 2011 recibi el Premio SAM Art Projects.
SARA RAMO
Madrid, Espaa, 1975 Vive y trabaja entre Madrid, Espaa y Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil Ha estudiado en la Escola de Belas Artes, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Algunas de sus exposiciones individuales destacadas son La Banda de los Siete, EAC, Espacio de Arte Contemporneo, Montevideo, Uruguay (2011). Simetras, Galeria Estrany-de la Mota, Barcelona, Espaa (2010). Movable Planes.The Photographers Gallery, London, UK (2009). De entre sus exposiciones colectivas destacan The Near and the Elsewhere. PM Gallery & House. Londres, Reino Unido (2012). H BOX: (Loops), Art Sonje Center, Sel, Corea (2011). 29a Biennal de So Paulo/ H sempre um copo de mar para um homem navegar. So Paulo, Brasil (2010). Fare Mondi // Making Worlds... 53 Biennale di Venezia, Italia (2009). Los Impoliticos. PAN - Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Npoles, Italia (2009).
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tERESA SOlAR ABBOUd

Madrid, Espaa, 1985 Vive y trabaja en Madrid, Espaa Ha estudiado Bellas Artes en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Espaa y ha realizado el mster en Arte Contemporneo de la Universidad Europea de Madrid. Su trabajo ha sido reconocido en diferentes convocatorias con premios como: Premio de Arte Joven del Injuve (2007), Instantes de paisaje del CDAN (2009) o el Premio de Artes Plsticas ABC (2011). Entre sus proyectos ms recientes destaca su primera exposicin individual El llano mltiple en la Galera Formato Cmodo, Madrid, Espaa (2012) y la preparacin del proyecto Las cosas que no estn que desarrolla gracias a una beca de produccin artstica de la CAM, Caja de Ahorros del Mediterrneo.
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IVN ARgOtE (IVN ASSAd ARgOtE cAldERN)

Bogot, Colombia, 1983 He lives and works in Paris, France He studied Graphic Design at the Bogota University, Colombia (2000-2005) and Fine Arts at ENSBA, Paris, France (2006-2009). These are some of his last exhibitions: Rising Action, (a duo exhibition with Pauline Bastard), Nettie Horn Gallery, London, UK (2012); Born to Curate, performance, Toyben Studios, London, UK (2012); The Dialectic City, Binary Arts Laboratory, Puerto Rico (2011); WE ARE (solo show), Nurture Art, Brooklyn, N.Y, EEUU (2011); Vista Socrates Sculpture Park, N.Y, EEUU (2011); Caliente, (solo show) Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France (2011); A brake to dance, (solo show) Galerie Valenzuela & Klenner, Bogota, Colombia (2009); Zapping Unit, MAC/VAL Museum of Contemporary Art of Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France (2009). In 2011 he was granted the SAM Art Projects award.
SARA RAMO
Madrid, Spain, 1975 She lives and works between Madrid, Spain and Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil He studied at Escola de Belas Artes, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. These are some of her most outstanding solo show: La Banda de los Siete, EAC, Espacio de Arte Contemporneo, Montevideo, Uruguay (2011). Simetras, Galeria Estrany-de la Mota, Barcelona, Spain (2010). Movable Planes, The Photographers Gallery, London, UK (2009). Among her collective exhibitions we outline The Near and the Elsewhere. PM Gallery & House. London, UK (2012). H BOX: (Loops), Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea (2011). 29th Biennal de So Paulo/ H sempre um copo de mar para um homem navegar. So Paulo, Brazil (2010). Fare Mondi // Making Worlds... 53 Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2009). Los Impoliticos. PAN - Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Naples, Italy (2009).
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tERESA SOlAR ABBOUd

Madrid, Spain,1985 She lives and works in Madrid, Spain She has got her PhD at the Fine Arts University in Madrid, Spain and completed a Master on Contemporary Art in the European University, Madrid. Her works have gained the recognition such as the grant for young arts production given by INJUVE (2007), Instantes de paisaje was selected for Center of Art and Nature (CDAN) in 2009 and for the ABC Visual Arts Award (2011). Among her recent projects we can mention her first solo show El llano mltiple in Galera Formato Cmodo, Madrid, Spain (2012) and the preparation of the project Las cosas que no estn she is developing with the Grant for Arts Production given by CAM, Caja de Ahorros del Mediterrneo in 2011.
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COMUNIDAD DE MADRID REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF MADRID Vicepresidente, Consejero de Cultura y Deporte y Portavoz del Gobierno de la Comunidad de Madrid Vicepresident and Regional Minister of Culture and Sports and Spokesman for the Region of Madrid Ignacio Gonzlez Gonzlez Viceconsejero de Cultura y Deporte Regional Deputy Minister of Culture and Sport Javier Hernndez
CA2M CENTRO DE ARTE DOS DE MAYO Director Director Ferran Barenblit Coleccin Collection Asuncin Lizarazu De Mesa Carmen Fernndez Fernndez
EXPOSICIN EXHIBITION Comisario Curator Tania Pardo Coordinacin Coordinator Iris Nava Coordinacin de la pieza Un ao al da, de Ivn Argote
CATLOGO CATALOGUE Textos Texts Tania Pardo Manuel Segade Julia Rebouas Sergio Rubira Carlos Fernndez-Pello Traduccin Translation Jaime Priede (texto Raymond Carver) Vernica Ducoure Laura Puy Polisemia Luso Lingua Diseo Grfico Graphic Design Disismaineim Impresin Printing BOCM ISBN 84-451-3422-1 Depsito Legal Legal Deposit XXXXXXX
Exposiciones Directora General de Archivos, Museos y Bibliotecas Managing Director Of Archives Museums And Libraries Isabel Rosell Volart Asesora de Artes Plsticas Fine Arts Adviser Lorena Martnez de Corral Jefe de Prensa de Cultura y de Relaciones Institucionales de Cultura Head of Press for the Regional Ministry of Culture Pablo Muoz Gabilondo Equipo de Prensa de Cultura Press Office for the Regional Ministry of Culture Elena Delgado Castro Milagros Goslvez Pastor Sandra Aller Andrs Gestin y Administracin Management and Administration Mar Gmez Hervs Educacin y Actividades Pblicas Education and Public Programs Mara Eguizabal Elas Carlos Granados Victoria Gil Delgado Armada Pablo Martnez Exhibitions Ignacio Macua Roy Vctor de las Heras Iglesias Difusin Diffusion Mara Canela Fraile Marta Martnez Barrera Rosa Naharro Diestro
Coordinator for the art piece A year per day by Ivn Argote Cristina Anglada Montaje Mounting Exmoarte Transporte Transport Ordax
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Creative Commons 3.0 Espaa Licencia ReconocimientoNo ComercialSin obra derivada Textos Texts Tania Pardo Manuel Segade Julia Rebouas Sergio Rubira Carlos Fernndez-Pello
AgRAdEcIMIENtOS AckNOwlEdgEMENtS
Ayuntamiento de Mstoles, Sara Daz, Aymara Garca, Eva Gatn, Dianna Manukian, Maite Moreno, Marina Palou, y Laura Vicente. A todas las personas que de forma desinteresada han celebrado su cumpleaos como parte de la pieza Un ao al da de Ivn Argote. Soha Abboud, Laura Affonso, Fernando Baos, Adam
Edita Editor CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo Comunidad de Madrid 2012
Barwick, Pauline Bastard, Laura Camarero, Silvia Cuenca Sanz, Marila Dardot, Bea Espejo, Karen (bibliotecaria), Tess Gallagher, Isabelle Le Normand, Galera Estrany de la Mota , Galera Emmanuel Perrotin & Galeria D+T Project, Galera Fortes Vilaa, Galera Formato Cmodo, Rodrigo Moura, Lais Myrrha, Rivane Neuschwander, Ivn Pascual Canteli, Carlos Primo, Pepo Paz, Daniel Ramo, Francisco
Algunos derechos reservados. Queda prohibida la reproduccin parcial o total de las imgenes o textos de esta obra por cualquier medio o procedimiento sin la autorizacin de los titulares del copyright.
Ramo, David y Myriam Solar, Clara Ustinov, Simn y Alfonso Viuela, Daniel Vidal, Jochen Volz, Hctor Zamora y Cyril Zarcone. Esta publicacin ha sido editada por la Vicepresidencia,
Some rights reserved. The partial or total reproduction of any of the images or texts in the publication in any form or by any means without prior written consent of the of copyright holders is strictly prohibited.
Consejera de Cultura y Deporte y Portavoca del Gobierno, Direccin General de Archivos, Museos y Bibliotecas de la Comunidad de Madrid con motivo de la exposicin Sin herosmos, por favor presentada en el CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo del 16 de marzo al 20 de mayo de 2012.
This publication is edited by the Vice Ministry, Regional Ministry of Culture and Sports and Government Spokespersonship, General OffIce of Archives, Museums and Libraries of the Regional Government of Madrid in Conjunction with the exhibition No heroics, please presented at CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo from March 16th to May 20th 2012
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Catalogo Sin Heroismos Final - Baja

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Catalogo Sin Heroismos Final - Baja

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Sin herosmos, por favor

SIN HEROSMOS, POR FAVOR

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el Pelo the haIr Raymond Carver

Breve GlosarIo del arGote* a short Glossary oF arGote* Manuel Segade

GeoGraFa de la lenGUa GeoGraPhy oF lanGUaGe Sergio Rubira

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UNA tRIlOgA y tRES HIStORIAS

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ONE tRIlOgy, tHREE tAlES

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BREVE glOSARIO dEl ARgOtE*

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Ivn Sin herosmos, Argote por favor

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A SHORt glOSSARy OF ARgOtE*

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Amigo / 2012 Escultura de yeso. 1,72 x 85 x 66 cm. Cortesa del artista

Rodando! / 2009 Vdeo DVD 1 Cortesa del artista

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Sin herosmos, Sara por favor Ramo

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